Misplaced
by Tommy smithy
Summary: My personal take of what would happen if I were in equestria. I will update when I can. rated T because I cuss at times. read, reveiw, acquire ponies.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Entry

Late one night after falling to sleep at the controller I was awoken by forest noises. I lifted my head up groggily, on my screen showed the classic "player kicked" message however something was off. Where my mirror in the corner of the room was a mirror shaped hole into a dense forest. This was odd for living in the suburbs around Los Angelos. I marked it off as a dream and began to walk over to it. I climbed up and through it, right before I went through I though "this is a realistic feeling dre- wait." I had woken up enough to realize how truly odd this was, but not before falling through. The portal was a few feet above the forest floor and I landed with the cracking of leaves and branches. "okay, what the hell." I said, out of pain more than any purpose. I looked around and the portal I came from was nowhere to be found. I was fully dressed since I came home this afternoon so atleast I didn't have to worry about stepping on branches. I decided to figure out where I was. First, is this earth? I looked up and saw the brilliance of the night sky without light pollution. I had seen this before while camping but this was different, these weren't earth's stars, and that wasn't earth's moon. None of the constellations where there and there was barely any craters on the moon. I decided that this was obviously a completely different universe than mine. I started walking and found a small dirt path. It seemed to stretch on for miles both ways. I took a deep breath and headed left. I thought through the potential universes, it wasn't any star wars planet that I knew of. This could be pokemon, I laughed to myself at the thought of me fighting ash or something. I looked for any wildlife, I saw some deer off in the distance, and I saw a rabbit scurry through the brush. Okay, this was obviously something with earth animals. I hiked on through for what must have been hours while brainstorming where I could be. I looked up and the moon hadn't moved an inch since I got here. I stared and tried to figure why. A thought, just a suggestion entered my mind, this might be friendship is magic. No it could be anything, maybe the moon never moves, then why are there regular pine trees instead of some weird alien night trees . Well, maybe it was- no wait. Suddenly it clicked, episodes one and two, nightmare moon makes it stuck at night for awhile, so when the mane 6 finish up that deal night should continue. I immediately thought of the possibilities, reading books with twilight sparkle, chillin out at one of pinkie's parties, or maybe applebucking. I laughed at that. Me? Bucking apples? I couldn't knock apples off of a tree, not without some weird physics. Then that popped into mind, physics. This isn't my world and it doesn't necessarily run off of the rules Im used to. For one it seems that the solar system revolves around here due to the princesses. I heard some commotion in the distance and saw the moon begin to move slowly. Good, they defeated nightmare moon and now day will come. And then another thought hit me. Shit, I had to go up to ponies that I know all about, and act as if they were brand new to me. Maybe I could pull a river song and just say spoilers to their future. Or come out clean with everything about them that humanity knows. I began to come up onto a paved road, it was cobblestone and led into four directions. There was a sign with unreadable text. I decided that somebody must've put graffitti on them. I went left and walked on for about 30 minutes before seeing a town. It looked exactly like ponyville does in My Little Pony and as I looked off at it I realized that I was thirsty and tired. I would deal with the chaos my presence might bring tomorrow but right now I needed to sleep. I went off the road a bit and crawled under a fallen tree. It would provide concealment while I slept and I drifted off, safely hidden under the leaves.

I woke up next morning, fully expecting to be home and sleep until mom woke me up. I suddenly realized that I was still in a forest, and that I was still under the tree. I woke up fully and crawled out from under the tree. I walked out onto the road and looked onto the town once more. It was still there and I was still here, that must mean that Im here for good. Here… forever… it hit me like a bag of bricks, Forever? No wait, no. I had always enjoyed reading fanfics like this but this was different. Those characters always had boring or bad lives, I had friends, family, dreams. I felt too sad to continue, I couldn't go to ponyville like this. I need to sort this out the only way I can. I crawled under the tree once more and laid there. worried for my family being worried about me, I thought of the possibilities, tried to reason out that this is the best thing in my life. But I couldn't, and because of that I cried. I tried to stay quiet and hidden, you can never redo first impressions and by god my first impressions was going to be calm and intelligent. There wasn't any intelligence in this it was just emotion. I didn't need logic, I wasn't spock, I needed help, someone gentle, someone understanding. As if on que I heard a soft voice, "hello?" I regained my thoughts long enough to recognize it as fluttershy, I couldn't think of anything better for me right now than for fluttershy to appear. I replied meekly, "hello"

I could hear her land gently, I heard some leaves rustle as she moved closer to my tree.

Fluttershy spoke softly "oh dear, are you okay?"

"yeah, just a *sniff* a little home sick."

"where's your home?"

"well…" I laughed weakly, "its in another universe."

I enjoyed speaking ironically at times and humor was my best way to cheer myself up. There was a very confused silence so I continued to talk.

"now, you probably haven't, or ever will, see anything like me."

I saw her hooves from under the branches.

"why? Is there something wrong with you?

"uh, no, its because well…" I thought over my next words, what could I say? I decided that there wasn't much to say so I poked my head up through the top of the tree. My head pushed through the last of the leaves and I was greeted with the fresh air. She looked at me, visibly surprised.

"when I say Im from another universe I mean it literally."

We stared at each other for a few seconds before she spoke up.

"oh, well... I don't know if I can help with that."

This whole chatting thing was pretty calming and I could feel my strength returning. I wiped the dried tears off of my face and raised my hand from the tree and put it out with the intention of a handshake. She looked at my hand before slowly raising her hoof. Finally I gave her a handshake, or hoofshake from which perspective you're at, and cheerily said.

"Hi! Im Tommy and you are?"

"Fluttershy" she responded quietly

"Fluttershy cool," I put down my hand and began to walk out of the tree, "how did you find me anyways" in my head I couldn't help but to think "don't let it be the crying, please not because of the crying, I swear if it was that Im going to catch on fire."

"well," she began

Oh no it was the crying wasn't it,

"one of the rabbits said he saw a strange creature and I was on my way to see what it was and,"

Oh my god, thank goodness it wasn't the crying. Sadly for me, she continued,

"and well, I heard this commotion so."

So close.

I stepped out of the tree and onto the road and looked around, at the town, and finally asked fluttershy the answer I already knew.

"what town is this?"

"ponyville."

Ponyville, wow, I couldn't help it anymore, I couldn't go through and meet everyone and just act as if I didn't know a thing about them. I had to say it, so I said it in the most believable way I could.

"wait a second,ponyville?"

"um, yes ponyville."

"THE ponyville?"

"yes why? Have you heard of it?"

"of course I have, where Im from ponyville is in a book."

"well…"

"and you know what else? That book is about talking ponies, yeah."

"really?"

"now this makes sense, Ive been brought to that world, huh."

"well, thats odd." Fluttershy's voice was getting more and more timid.

"it is. are you by any chance, friends with a pony named twilight sparkle?"

"yes I- I am."

"well that settles it, I have to go meet your friends."

I set off, I heard something faint from behind me, but I kept walking towards the town. As I walked I couldn't help but to feel worried, sure I saw most of the show, but me being here has changed the timeline, now that I am affecting this world, Most of the show isn't accurate, and In the long run. I really only could predict major events up until next nightmare night, after that who knows what will happen.

Authors notes:

This chapter is really longer than I wanted it to be, I should've ended it when I went to sleep but it kept feeling too short. This story will go on until I don't want to type it anymore, at that point I will announce it in the author's notes and have a nice little finale. I do have some concerns about my writing. 1. Im afraid that I will get the characters all wrong and if that happens I will probably say "screw it" and move to a new town and throw in some OCs. 2. I really am afraid of my character getting caught up in what seems to be called "shipping" on this site. This is less of a story as it is what I honestly think would happen If I got stuck in this universe. That's why I have a mental breakdown, and that's why I wrote in all the possible universes for me to be in. a quote I enjoy is "life is 10% what you do and 90% how you react." And so really I will just throw in a story arc so that its interesting to write and to read. This is really more of an experiment in my writing than a full story. If you review then I will probably listen to any complaints or ideas you have. Thanks for reading this chapter and this rant

Authors update:

fixed all of the obvious grammar mistakes. In retrospect this chapter isn't even that long, I'm starting to get chapters stretching into 3,000 words. Fixed a plot hole that I didn't notice the first time through.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: transformation

I walked at a fast pace towards the town. I was sort of regretting coming off clean with knowing about everybody, it felt like I was cheating somehow. Either way I was in for a busy day. I felt a sort of odd energy building up around me. I ignored it and continued on, I had taken interest in the more, spiritual, parts of life on earth and decided it wasn't a weird ass ghost or anything. I soon found out what it was as it began building and building. I looked around, leaves and dust was flying around me. I looked back at fluttershy who was visibly scared. I suddenly felt as if the universe itself had suddenly noticed me. At that moment I was shit out of luck because it didn't like what it was seeing. I felt like a scar on the world, a cancer to be treated, like I was something vulgar intruding onto sacred turf. I picked up my pace, I ran towards town, hoping twilight sparkle could help, I noticed it got stronger the closer to town I got. Sadly I realized this too late and my entire body locked up. I felt numb as what felt like the whole world filled me with energy and then pain in my entire body. I soon saw why, it seemed that I was being transformed into a pony. I gathered up my wits and reasoned to leave the town, to return to the woods and stay a person. I managed to stand up somehow. I began to stumble for a few feet before finally collapsing onto all fours and helplessly watching as hands turned to hooves. My thoughts turned to the iron will of the U.S Rangers, I had always tried to live by a sort of "stop when the jobs done or I am" philosophy and forced myself to move forward. It was slow and painful as bones and joints where being changed at the cellular level. I saw fluttershy in the corner of my eye, obviously scared and confused at what she was seeing. I finally collapsed into a heap and found that I couldn't move my back. Determined, scared, and pumped up on every fight or flight chemical my body had, I forced a single leg forward and crawled another foot before I lost all energy in my body. I thought of what I could possibly do. I couldn't move I could only influence. When I said I found interest in more spiritual matters I meant things along the lines of Tai Chi and moving body energies. I never had much success but I was going to try right here right now. I concentrated on becoming a human again, I didn't make any progress so I decided to alter ,what pony I was. I concentrated on wings, I had always dreamt of flight and god damnit this was my chance I imagined it as much as I could. I forced energy into making wings, imagine my surprise when they began to form. It wasn't huge, it was just the feeling of small lumps on my shoulders, this gave me confidence and pride. I cant beat the universe but I can dominate my own fate. I began to stand up, my legs where wobbly, in pain, and I felt dizzy, but I was doing what no amount of red bull could ever do. I concentrated on spreading and creating wings. I looked back and saw them form, I couldn't believe it. I felt the energy beginning to leave my body, I felt the numbness and pain fade until finally I returned to normal, well, normal for a human turned pony. I hadnt conqeured the world but I did use it to my advantage and that was enough to boost my ego higher than trixie's ever could be. Looked over at fluttershy with a proud smile and began to turn towards her, I imagined me looking super badass and epic but then I tripped up on my own hooves and fell down; I was used to two feet and only moved my back legs. I looked up at her and simply said,

"well I appear to be a pegasus now, I- Im not quite sure what to make of that."

She stared at me blankly, I continued talking, "I suppose I should learn how to walk and fly," she continued to stare. I took this as her being completely stumped beyond all comprehension.

"fluttershy?" I said softly

I was in luck because I heard a voice from behind me.

"fluttershy? You okay?" I saw Applejack run up to fluttershy and then looked at me menacingly, "who in the hay are you and what did you to fluttershy."

Understanding how much of pounding would receive if I answered poorly I used my super speaking skills to create an amazing spee-

"well, I was originally a creature called a human and I came from another universe through a weird portal thing and I met fluttershy and I was coming to town when I truned into a pony and it hurt like hell and I probably looked like a total mess and it mustve freaked her out and then you came here and I explained this all to you and PLEASE DON'T BEAT MY FACE IN!"

My mouth had betrayed me and had probably explained it better than I ever could. She looked at me suspiciously and turned to fluttershy.

"is what he's sayin' true"

Fluttershy snapped out of it finally "uh, yes it is."

I had survived my first encounter with applejack without a broken face, yipee. I stood up finally and slowly turned to face applejack. She looked at me with an expression of distrust.

"oh I get it you don't believe me now do you. if I were from this world then I would have no issue flying, I am going to attempt to fly just to prove that I'm not used to being a pony."

I began to turn to face the town and had made the decision that right here that I would prove that I am not used to being a pony. I took a few awkward steps before finding the rhythm and I began to figure out how to run before finally reaching top speed and I spread my newly found wings, they felt awkward and before long they caught wind and I glided up a few feet. I felt the most amazing sensation as I had achieved flight but soon felt pain as I landed and rolled over a couple times. I quickly regained my composition and stood up. I looked back at them, they were quite a ways down the path. I shouted across at them "HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT I JUST FLEW." I was overcome with pride and joy and didn't quite notice blacking out.

Authors note:

Well theres my second chapter. I decided that turning into a pony would work perfectly for my story arc. As far as the ending, Im a bit rushed at times so I just ended it as naturally as I could and will pick it up next chapter. Read, review, acquire ponies.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: introductions**

I regained conciousness, slowly at first, but then I snapped awake. I remember where I was, what I now am, and why I should be embarrassed for passing out in front of one of my favorite characters on the show. I stood up. Applejack quickly trotted over and asked me if I was okay.

I grinned at her and promptly replied, "okay? Im better than okay."

"well partner, I think rainbow dash would have a run for her money with that." Applejack was obviously the king of sarcasm. I tried to come up with something witty, "yeah at this rate I might actually be able to fly a kite."

"well," applejack started, "its obvious that you ain't one for flyin' but that still leaves the question of how you got here."

I stared and rummaged through my thoughts and quickly found a possible solution.

"well, you guys just finished with nightmare moon right?"

"an' how in tarnation did you know that?"

"because where Im from this is all just a fairytale, a story, you see. And well the first villain you all fight is nightmare moon."

"so, are you sayin' that we are just an old bedtime story."

"where Im from, yes, here however this is definitely real."

I let this sink in before continuing, "now if this is exactly the same as the stories then you should be friends with a pony named twilight sparkle, is this correct."

"it sure is."

"then I need to talk with her as soon as I can."

"I don't suppose you know your way 'round the town."

"If you took me there that would be fantastic."

I followed applejack and looked back to see fluttershy following behind us. We finally arrived at the big tree library and applejack knocked on the door. Spike answered the door and after a bit of explaining, we got twilight to come on down. She looked at me quizzically and then at applejack.

"who's this?" twilight asked.

Applejack pointed a hoof at me and said, "this is, well, what was your name again?"

"tommy." I replied.

Applejack continued, "well anyway, he says hes from another world and we thought that you might be able to help him."

Twilight looked at me in confusion, "another world? How?"

"well," I began with my theory, "maybe the magic nightmare moon used to show up again had some affect on my world somehow."

Twilight stopped me there, "wait, what do you mean another world."

"eh… another universe."

She had a surprised expression, "but you look just like anypony."

"wasn't always like that."

"what changed you?"

"I was hoping you might have a book on it or something, or better yet maybe princess celestia knows."

"wait if you are from another universe then how do you know about nightmare moon and princess celestia."

I sighed and explained the stories and my world and why she shouldn't think Im crazy. Finally after I finished explaining all of she was quiet for a minute before finally speaking up, "you don't have anywhere to stay, do you?"

"well now that I think of it no, maybe I could stay with one of you guys."

Twilight thought for a second before saying, "fluttershy found you so maybe she could have you over."

Fluttershy walked forward a little and spoke up, "that would be okay."

Applejack chimed in, "I wouldn't mind having extra help over at the acres."

Twilight looked at the two of them and then looked at me, "in that case the choice is yours."

"wow really,uh… Ill go with applejack. Also, can I rainbow dash teach me to fly or something?"

"I will see what I can arrange." Twilight sparkle said as she began to close her door, "oh and, welcome to ponyville tommy."

I walked with applejack to the orchards, the day was sunny, warm, and was about to get a lot more interesting. We arrived and after introductions with her family we went out to the apple trees where she was going to teach me to buck apples.

"ya see, applebucking goes back generations in my family and its reall simple. Just find a good tree with some apples and kick it as hard as you can." Applejack then proceeded to knock all of the apples off of a tree with one kick. "here you try."

I walked up to a tree that had to have been a hundred apples in it and kicked it, a single apple pitifully fell out. Applejack started laughing. I looked at the tree, just what did it think it was, being so smug. I yelled at the tree "oh hell NO." I did what was much more natural for me and began punching the tree. The first punch made another two or three apples fall out. I saw this as a weakness and immediately started punch as hard and as fast as I could. As the apples fell off I couldn't help but to imagine a little street fighter combo counter. Then finally I stood on my hind legs and came down with the best punch I could, I heard a loud crack and about 30 apples fell down suddenly. At that point applejack stopped laughing. I looked at her, panting, and triumphantly said, "I think I won."

She looked at the small dent In the tree I had just made and looked at me very surprised, "well Im sorry for laughing at you sugarcube, but you picked the one tree that even big macintosh has issues with. Im surprised you even made a single apple fall down on your first try." I lifted an eyebrow, she continued, "let me show you somethin'." She walked to the other side of the tree, there was a massive dent, 5 inches deep and a foot wide.

"what is this?"

"that," applejack placed her hoof in it, "is what happened when big macintosh tried to knock out all of the apples at once."

"did it work?"

"yes it did, except for one."

I expected some story of the one that got away, or how its some massive apple that wont fall out, or something crazy like that. Curious, I asked "what did you do?"

"he bucked it again."

Aw the magic of that one apple was now gone. We continued to buck apples till sundown when we finally went in for dinner. It was odd to have a pony dinner, it tasted odd, but good, to be eating hay and apples. After dinner applejack brought me around to the barn that they had.

"well its no cloud home that a lot of the pegasi around here live in but its still cozy."

"nah, Id prefer a place like this to a cloud, I may be a Pegasus now but Im still used to having two feet on the ground."

"two feet?"

"yeah my kind walk on our hind legs."

"sounds uncomfortable."

I went inside and laid down on the nearest pile of hay, I was exhausted and I wanted to think about the day and sort things out, but I was too tired to do anything but pass out as soon as I hit the hay. I had just enough time to laugh at my little pun before falling asleep.

Author's notes

Well that's my third chapter alright. Was a little stumped at first but I managed to get the ball rolling. Special thanks to solrac III for giving the first review, and a helpful one at that. Remember, nothing is impossible, only very very unlikely.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: What's been learned and forgotten

I woke up with some very odd questions in my mind. What am I? Well that's an odd question to wake up to. Well, I guess that I am Tommy. I was on earth then I came here somehow and now I'm a pony. Where am I? Oh come on brain, I'm not stupid. I'm obviously in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. Am I happy? Okay seriously what the hell is this? I could be happier but I'm getting by just fine. What am I doing? Alright I get it, there's some subliminal message here isn't there? Well I don't have anything planned in particular but I have a feeling that I'll figure something out. I expected more questions but instead my mind was silent. I laid there in the hay until someone opened the barn door.

I heard Applejack, "well he's in here if you need to ask him anythin'."

I also heard Twilight Sparkle, "thank you for keeping him over for the night I would've but I was really busy."

"No problem."

I saw Twilight come walking in and look at me funny. Curious, I asked her what was wrong.

"Well," she began, "you don't have a cutie mark."

I hadn't even bothered to look; sure enough there wasn't anything there. I wondered how this went unnoticed for an entire day. Of course it was rather fitting; I never had any real passion back home. I lived a good life but I never had any drive. I was thinking of getting a job in the military, go to college, get an office job, have a wife, retire a rather uninteresting life. I thought about my qualities, while I never had any passion, I was endlessly stubborn. If I were challenged I couldn't say no. maybe something will come up that I enjoy but as for now that blank spot was a little embarrassing.

"Anyways, I came here to ask you some questions, see what you know."

"Like what?" I asked

"You said that this is a story where you are from, what do you know about us?"

"I know the basics. I know about the whole princess thing, I know general personalities of you and your friends as well as your origin stories. I know a little about the town and barely anything of the geography. I also know most major events that you will have for the next year."

"Like what?"

"You just finished up with nightmare moon."

"Yes."

"So I know what will happen, on a very general level, for about a year."

"Yes, but what do you know?"

I looked at her and spoke in a very serious tone, "I know major events, me being here has made a lot of minor events spring up or never happen at all. I won't interfere with most of the stuff that will happen and I won't tell you about it beforehand. If you want I can tell you what happened in the show but I won't spoil anything."

I eased up and continued talking in a more casual tone, "is there anything else that you want to know about?"

"I also wanted to know about what you know in general."

I thought over my years of school, I had made it to 10th grade before this happened so I knew quite a bit.

"I know how to read and write, I know math all the way up to Algebra and I know a little bit of history from my world."

"What about your world's history?"

I began to tell her of what I knew. I started with the Romans and Greece, and worked my way through what I knew of the world's history. I answered her questions as best as I could and by the time I had run out of things to say we had made it to the library that she lived in.

"Your world has an interesting history," She spoke flatly, "very violent."

"Yeah." I thought this over, my world was really violent. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't hear something on the news about some bombing or serial killer. I wondered if I was really cut out for that world. Maybe it was better here after all. I was lost in my thoughts and was standing idle. I remembered where I was and looked over at Twilight standing impatiently in the doorway.

"Come in here, I need to see if you can read our language."

"I said I could read."

"Yes but can you read our letters."

"Oh." I felt like an idiot, it seemed obvious now. Just because we spoke the same didn't mean we wrote the same. She pulled a book out from a shelf. She trotted over to me and held it open in front of me. I looked into it and it looked like gibberish. Some characters were familiar but it looked like a weird mix between English, French, and Russian.

"I can't read any of this."

"Then show me how you write." She hovered a pencil over to where I was and I instinctually tried to grab it with my hand. My brain broke for a second when my hoof had failed to grab it and instead grabbed it in my mouth. I walked over to a table that had some blank paper on it. I tried to write "this is what English looks like" but found it hard for obvious reasons. It looked like chicken scratch and Twilight looked at it with an eyebrow raised.

I quickly defended my writing, "I'm used to having hands to write that."

She looked at me excitedly, "oh you had hands when you were a- a…"

"We called ourselves Humans."

"A Human, so you had hands?"

"Yes, and feet, We really looked kind of like monkeys, except without the hair."

"What do you mean without the hair?"

"We had hair on our heads and not much else."

"Weren't you cold in the winter?"

"Well we had clothes that we wore all the time to keep us warm."

"If you were a human which look like monkeys then obviously you aren't used to be a pony at all. I also was told that you wanted personal flight lessons from Rainbow Dash."

"Yes ma'am."

"Why her?"

"Because, well…" I tried to word it carefully, "Rainbow Dash is my favorite pony so I thought that learning from her would be the most epic thing ever."

"Okay fair enough, I think she has today off so you can probably find her practicing in the fields on the other side of town."

"Wow, thanks!"

I trotted off at a happy pace; I was excited to learn to fly from my favorite character. I heard Twilight tell me to stay out of trouble as I wandered off. Ponyville is a rather large town and I had a good 20 minutes to get to the fields. During the walk I had experimented with running and figuring out how to move better as a pony. I tripped more than once and was a bit bruised by the time I arrived. Luckily I found her flying in the fields just like Twilight Sparkle had said. She was doing all sorts of loops and turns and when she saw me she glided down and landed a few feet in front of me. I was locked up in pure fan boy bliss and she got the first words out.

"Who are you?" she asked.

I managed to pull myself together and responded, "I- I'm Tommy, and I was hoping to learn how to fly from you."

"Oh yeah, Twilight was going on about you earlier today. My only question is why not bother someone else?"

"Well I just thought tha-"

She cut me off, "I mean there's plenty of teachers in town, I'm busy figuring out this new trick."

She stopped talking and I seized the opportunity, "it's just that I'm sort of your biggest fan and I thought learning from you would be super amazing."

"I already have fans?"

"yes, and this fan is asking to learn to fly."

"oh, well when you put it like that of course I'll teach you."

I sighed in relief.

"It's simple really, you just spread your wings out and start flapping."

I spread out said wings and began flapping. First few attempts did nothing more than to stir up some dust, then I really started trying and I managed to get up off the ground. She began to teach me how to move forward and to control my flight. It was odd, once the motions became natural it began to feel like flying a helicopter in battlefield. I practiced with her, trying my best to mimic her tricks. After The sun started to go down I began to fly to the barn and say my goodbyes to Rainbow Dash. As I landed at the acres, exhausted from a day of crashes, I went into the house. The Apple family was having a dinner, luckily it wasn't until then that I realized my hunger. Even more lucky was the fact that they had no problem feeding me. after a fantastic day I went into the barn and hit the hay once more, content with my day and excited for what's to come.

Author's notes

I had some issues with this chapter but I am happy with it. I have planned out the general story arc and I just need to give it a nice build up. I'm planning on this reaching into 20 chapters before I wrap up. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I will try to update as much as I can.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Getting a Job

I woke up early the next morning, way too early. It was still pitch black in the barn and I couldn't hear the normal sounds of Applejack bucking apples. I laid there in the hay, wide awake, until suddenly the same questions bombarded me. What am I? Goddamnit! I am trying to sleep bother me some other time. Where am I? Fine, I'm in some hay at the barn. Am I happy? NO! Do you know why? BECAUSE MY MIND IS BEING PHILOSOPHICAL AT TWO IN THE MORNING! What am I doing? Getting some sleep, I mean come on. After the questions I began getting more tired. Before I went back to sleep I couldn't help but wonder if there was a point I was missing. I've slept through earthquakes before and these questions seemed trivial. I had strange dreams of me back at home, going through my daily life, as a pony. Nobody acted any differently and I didn't even notice it much as I flew to school. When I woke up next morning and thought over my dreams, I knew there was something I wasn't getting out of those questions. The only problem was I couldn't figure out what it was. I feared for what might happen if I couldn't figure it out in time.

I slowly became hungry and I began to get up. I went outside to find Big Macintosh carrying a couple of massive baskets full of apples.

"Do you need any help?" I asked him, knowing the probable answer.

"No, but one of Applejack's friends was looking for you."

"Who was it?"

"I don't remember the name but she had a purple mane."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

I walked off towards were the library. I still wasn't used to the town and I got lost a couple of times. I was starting to wish I had a legitimate job, over the past couple of days I had only eaten a couple of dinners and the nearby restaurants were becoming more and more tempting. By the time I found the library I was starving, I was working way too hard for how little I was actually eating. I knocked on the door and as soon as it opened I blurted out, "have you had breakfast yet? Cause I haven't could I get some please?" the door opened all the way to reveal a very confused Spike staring at me as if I was crazy. I felt like an idiot and tried to restart that conversation, "sorry about that. Is um, Twilight home?"

"She's here but who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Tommy."

"She was talking about you earlier. You seem… odd."

"Yes I am very odd now where is she? She must have something important to tell me or something."

"Yeah yeah, she was expecting you. She's up in her room."

"Where's that?"

"It's the staircase in the back you can't miss it."

I walked up the stairs and at the top was a door. I knocked on it and a few seconds later it opened. Twilight stood in the door way, "ah, I was wondering when you'd show up." I looked past her and saw some papers and books strewn about on her desk.

"So what did you need?"

"I have done some research and I can't find any reasonable way for you to get back home so I figured you might want to get settled down in Ponyville."

"How so?"

"For one, maybe you could find a job somewhere so that you can support yourself. Also you should learn our alphabet."

"Well that depends, how does your alphabet work?"

She walked over to blackboard and began writing some symbols on it.

"It has 25 letters and each letter represents a sound."

"Yup, that's how English works too, except we have 26 letters."

"Well, that makes things more convenient." She pointed to the first symbol, "this letter represents the sound _ah_, or _eh_."

"That sounds like the letter A where I'm from." I took a closer look at it. I realized that it, along with the rest of the letters, was just like English letters except for a few extra lines. We worked on it for a few minutes as she explained their alphabet to me while I explained ours to her. The only difference was that K and C where condensed into one letter. After that I spent the next hour memorizing the letters and practiced by writing down a quick rambling about why khaki shorts and shirts with Hawaiian flower patterns will always be tacky. My writing was atrocious because I still wasn't used to writing with a pencil in my mouth. I reached the bottom of the page and looked over my work, half of it was unreadable and the other half had regular english that I hadn't noticed. My handwriting was miserable, but I could read their language now and that was all that mattered. I beckoned for Twilight to look at my work. She stared at it for what seemed like an eternity.

"well," I said, hoping to break the silence, "I can read and that's good enough for me." the silence continued for another few seconds so I decided to make an exit. "If that's all you needed then Im going to go job hunting around town."

I walked over to the door and opened it.

"Tommy,"

"yes?"

"don't tell anyone in town that you're from another universe."

I laughed at the irony in that. I stepped outside, it was midday already and I wasn't sure what I would be eating today. I didn't want to be a burden Applejack. I decided that I could stay there for about a week before feeling bad about not being self sufficient. I considered my options, I could get a job with any of the Mane 6 or find some job owned by random ponies in town. Rainbow Dash was a weather pony I would just have to find a way to get into the same group as her. I didn't like the thought of making a living out of flying, I always dreamt of flying whenever I wanted to but I was still the most comfortable standing on solid ground. I could maybe work with Twilight Sparkle, I would get better at reading and I'm certainly smart enough. I might not be gentle enough to work with Fluttershy and I never saw the point in high fashion so Rarity was out. I've already proven my worth at the Sweet Apple Acres, plus I already live there mostly. As for Pinkie, I always sucked at cooking, let alone baking.

I reached the main commercial area of Ponyville. The road was lined with shops and kiosks. There was everything from food to gardening services. I looked around and I couldn't find a single help wanted poster any where and when I reached the end of the road I hadn't made any progress in finding work. I thought of my choices, working for Applejack, Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle. I never was good at organization so that took being a librarian away. I finally decided on working for Applejack, I wasn't as good as she was but I was able to keep up with her. I began making my way in the general direction of the farm. I couldn't figure out how I was going to find it without asking for directions. Then I realized, _I'm a pegasus, I can just go as the crow flies._ Content with my sudden cleverness I walked out of town and into an open field. I didn't see anypony around and it wouldn't make any sense for their to be any laws restricting flying around. I began to attempt a take off, I had learned how to fly but I still wasn't very good at it. After a few flaps I managed to get some distance from the ground and I began flying into the general direction once more. I made a mental note to get better at flying, while it wasn't hard, I was flying like a helicopter in battlefield and moved by leaning. After a couple minutes and a couple of close calls, I reached the barn and began to look for Applejack. It wasn't hard as applebucking was really loud; Each kick was like a muffled gunshot. I found her, hard at work, and began an attempt to land near her. When I got to about 30 feet away from her she noticed me.

She called up to me, "I wasn't expectin' to see you so soon."

"yeah about that." I began to land, my wing clipped a branch and I lost stability. I began to lean left and fall to the ground and I quickly closed my wings to avoid injuring them. While I was trying to land without breaking something my mouth was trying to make a deal.

"I was thinking about it and I ju- OOF" I hit the ground and rolled over a couple of times. My senses straightened out and I continued talking, "maybe I could work here since I already have been living here for the past few days. I just thought that its since it's such a big farm left to a few ponies that you could use an extra hand, hoof or whatever."

She chuckled, "Well certainly sugarcube, we it's always nice to have some extra help around the farm."

I was glad to hear this but it felt odd being called sugarcube, while I never thought of it as an uncommon phrase for her to say it it was still something that you would often call a boyfriend. I got rid of any thoughts of romance as soon as they entered my head. I finally stood up.

"I'm glad to hear that, is there anything that I can do right now?"

"well, fer starters you could go grab some baskets and start bucking apples."

I walked back to the barn and managed to find some baskets in the back. It was clever really, the baskets had a couple straps so that somepony could lift it up on their backs. I followed the sounds of applebucking until I found Applejack talking to Big Macintosh. I walked up to them, "alright I have some baskets, now what?"

Big Macintosh turned to talk to me, I was a bit taller than Applejack but Big Mac still towered over me, "we've been talking it over and right now we'll give you 20 bits for every full basket you can bring back."

"thanks I wi- wait, how much is a bit worth?"

Applejack spoke up this time, "oh, a bit? You could buy a gumball with one."

I thought it over in my head. A single bit was about a quarter, and that meant that 4 bits was a dollar and those twenty bits were worth five dollars. It wasn't much but it didn't take much to fill up a basket, either.

"okay, thanks I'll get to work then."

I started to walk away and Applejack stopped me, "one last thing before you go, Applebucking season doesn't really start for a couple weeks. Right now we are just getting some of the trees that are already ripe to make it easier when the rest of em' get ripe. So try to avoid bucking trees with apples that don't look ripe."

"alright."

I knew what a ripe apple generally looked like so that made things a little easier. I started wandering around, bucking ripe trees as I went. I worked through the day, and I worked through the hunger. I went in when I heard the dinner bell. At the table there was a nice conversation. I liked the house, it was warm, cozy, it felt old and sturdy and safe. I was listening to the talking when Applejack brought me into the conversation, "I was surprised you didn't get a job where you can fly around all the time, with you being a pegasus and all."

"I enjoy flying but I still feel safer on the ground. Humans aren't meant to fly so my entire life up until now was spent with my feet on some solid ground. In the sky I feel nice and free, but I also feel odd to not have anything to stand on."

everyone at the table looked at me oddly, "Humans?"

"yeah it's what I was before I came here, ask Twilight I told her all about it."

after dinner I went back into the barn and went to sleep. The hay stack that I had slept on was becoming a bit flat from me sleeping on it every night. I don't know how many baskets I brought in but I found a small bag of bits in the hay. As I fell asleep I began to think. I considered what might come in the next few weeks, I wondered what's happening back home right now. I was sad about not being home, but at the same time I was happy that I was getting a foothold in this new world. I couldn't help but feel a single tear roll down my face as I faded off into sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A part of the timeline

the next day I woke up in a good mood. This made me a bit more enthusiastic about answering the questions that come up every morning. What am I? I'm Tommy, a Human turned pony who's proudly employed at the Sweet Apple Acres. Where am I? At the same barn I've been sleeping at for the past few days. I couldn't really understand what my mind was getting at with that question. My mind should know exactly where I am so it must have some secret meaning. Am I happy? I'm doing fantastic, I have a job, someplace to stay, some money, and I'm in my favorite cartoon world. What am I doing? I'm going to get up and see if there is any work to be done around the farm. I got up and stretched. What was the point in these questions? I have them every morning when I wake up and they are always the same. I decided that the best thing to do is to just answer them and hopefully I will figure it out.

I left the barn and found Applejack bringing in another couple baskets full of apples. I called out to her, "anything for me to do today?"

"nah, we appreciated yer help yesterday but Twilight is going to be coming over to help us today."

that means I have today off, I went inside the barn and found the small bag in my hay stack. Bah, I practically live here now so I'll just call it my bed. I picked it up out of my bed and emptied its contents out onto the dirt floor. After a quick count up I had saw that I had about 40 dollars worth of bits. I picked it up in my mouth and walked out to the town. I had no clue where I was supposed to hold the bag. now that I thought of it, how did anypony hold money? I tossed the bag onto my back. Today could probably be used to get used to being a pony. Despite having walked around for the past two days as a pony it still felt awkward. Flying felt a bit clunky and I still needed to figure out how to control flight with my wings and not my weight.

I reached the town and made my way through until I reached the restaraunts. I walked around before spotting what I recognized as Sugarcube Corner. I walked in, I was hoping to buy a breakfast muffin, maybe say hi to pinkie. I went up to the counter and was greeted by Ms. Cake, "Hello dearie, what can I get for you?"  
>"I would like a blueberry muffin."<p>

she grabbed a muffin from behind the counter and put placed it on the counter.

"that will be ten bits."

"okay then."

that was what, Two dollars. I took the bag off of my bag and carefully emptied out ten bits. She pulled them back and put them in the cash register.

"have a nice day!"

"thanks, also,"

"yes?"

"tell pinkie that I said hi."

"oh, you know pinkie pie?"

"yeah."

it wasn't the absolute truth, I still hadn't truly met Pinkie Pie, but the truth sounded like some insane ramblings. I picked up the muffin and walked outside, I sat on the side of the street as I ate. I pondered what I should do today. I could run around until I didn't feel so odd walking on all fours. I could experiment with flying until I become better at it. Or I could just let those come naturally and wander around all day. I decided to go fly around until noon, have lunch, then wander around. I finished my muffin and found the field I was flying in the other day. I began to practice taking off. After about an hour of trying different techniques and styles I was able to consistently take off with the first flap. I then tried to figure out which muscles In my wings do what. After another ten minutes I could tilt and turn my wings while flying. That led to trying to figure out how to flap forward. I practiced for hours, when lunch finally came around my wings where tired and sore. I had managed to learn true flight control and was more comfortable with flying places and landing. There was a few dozen pegasi pushing clouds around above ponyville. It looked like it was going to rain soon, that reminded me of another thing I will miss about my world. All the weather was planned. I missed the build up of clouds rolling in for a couple days before finally having a rainy day. I had always loved storms, I loved everything about them so I was happy that it would rain today.

By the time I had made it back to the restaurant area it became obvious that I would have a rainy lunch. I saw Twilight Sparkle sitting at a table with a sandwich. Suddenly it dawned on me, this was the first episode after the premiere. I felt sorry for her, While I was learning to fly Twilight was being bothered by all of her friends about those tickets. I walked up to her, "Hi Twilight! Hows today been going for you?"

Twilight groaned, "uh, not so good."

"and why's that."

"Princess Celestia sent me two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala and I don't know who to take with me."

"wait, why did she only give you TWO tickets when she knows you have six friends."

"I don't know."

"why don't you just ask her for some extra tickets, it shouldn't be hard for the ruler of equestria to get a few tickets to a ball."

"that's true, but it's not just any gala, It's the biggest one in all of equestria. I think I can figure it out on my own, but thanks for trying to help anyways. Also thanks for not going crazy after hearing about the tickets to the gala."

"no problem."

the waiter brought in a daisy sandwhich and placed it in front of Twilight.

"one more thing," she said, lifting her sandwhich up

"what is it?"

"is this, by any chance, in the story."

"yeah its the first chapter after the fight with Nightmare Moon. Also you might want to hurry up with that sandwhich."

she looked a bit worried at this, "and why is that?"

as if on cue, a bunch of ponies started running around. She asked a nearby pony what the deal was and the scene unfolded exactly as it did in the show, I was the only difference. Afterwards, I walked off into the pleasant downpour. I was getting soaked and I didn't want to make anypony's restaurant have a wet floor so I decided to skip lunch. I was content with trying to help Twilight out for a full ten seconds before I realized what I had just done. HOLY SHIT! I almost altered the entire episode. If she had taken my advice then she might not have her letter on friendship tonight. Worst case scenario would be that I cause Lesson Zero to happen early, best case would be that I alter one or two episodes. It might not make much difference in Applebucking season but this episode lead into the episode at the galla. I made a vow to be more careful, I was a part of this world now, whatever I do makes ripples that might cause something unexpected to happen. I suddenly became worried about the battle with Discord, if I wasn't back home before that happened then I might get caught up in it and if I made a misstep and somehow caused Discord to win then I might never see my home ever again. I took comfort in the fact that that was months away.

The rest of the day I had spent either getting better at being a pony, or looking for all of the background ponies that have become so popular. I managed to find Derpy Hooves and that was about it. Night was fast approaching and I tried to make a special effort to get a ticket to the galla. I managed to insert myself into the situation as naturally as I could and get a ticket. I felt like a total dick for doing it but atleast I could go to the galla. I went back to the farm afterwards. I had another dinner with the Apple family and took part in some of the converation. I went to bed, happy on my minimal impact on the story, and slept soundly.

Author's notes

wow, chapter 6, no story I have ever written has made it this far before. I have a few chapters planned and I have a full story arc that Im going to follow. It will take awhile and it won't become evident until the last couple of chapters. I'm also planning on a romantic sub plot with my character that will feed into the main plot. Other than that I mostly write on a chapter to chapter basis. Thanks for reading this story and if you enjoy it please review it really does help motivate me to write more.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: daw, that's cute

the next couple of months were uneventful other than the episodes that unfolded each week. I did my best to stay uninvolved with the events, although I still interfered with a few, I never gave out any spoilers. I had told Twilight that the episodes ended with her letters to Celestia, and gladly answered most questions she had about my world and what it thought of them. Gilda was a total bitch and I was glad when she finally got kicked out. I enjoyed Trixie's magic show, although I despised her boasting on every level, she still had a spectacular show. I downright refused to come along when Dragonshy unfolded, no pony got hurt in the avalanche in the cartoon but this is currently reality and I didn't feel safe dodging boulders. I came down with a cold when Zecora showed up so I couldn't really meet her and I recovered just in time to deal with the parasprites. I knew winter wrap up would be a challenge on my body so I had conditioned myself for the weeks leading up to it. I was settling down, becoming happy. I was more accepted in the community, especially the Apple family. I knew many of the background ponies, although Doctor Whooves still eluded me. I thought little of home, it seemed like an origin story rather than my old home. Not a single morning went by that I woke up without the same four questions in my mind .Through it all I had never, not once, figured out what my passion was. I still had no cutie mark and that was beginning to worry me. That all changed when Applebloom came home looking down.

I was bringing in a couple baskets full of apples when I saw her. She had her eyes glued to the ground and was obviously sad about something. I walked over to her, racking my brain for what the next episode was.

"hey Applebloom, whats wrong?"

she stopped and looked up at me, "the fillies at my school are making fun of me because I don't have my cutie mark yet."

"so? cutie marks take time, why should you feel bad about not having one."

"because they're having a party for everypony in the class that has their cutie mark."

"well that's dumb! If it makes you feel any better, I still don't have my cutie mark either." I could not, for the life of me, remember what episode this was. Now that I thought about it, I could only really remember season two.

"you don't?"

"yeah haven't you noticed?"

"I knew you didn't have one when you got here but I never bothered to look since then, I never really thought about it."

"fair enough, well I don't have one so if you need any help I would be glad to help you."

she suddenly perked up and had a smile, "could you help me get a cutie mark?" she said enthusiastically.

"sorry but no, cutie marks are based off of your passion, your calling, and I don't even know what mine is."

"oooooh." she slumped down a bit and walked into the house. I continued to think of what episode this was, it was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't remember what happens exactly. I continued picking up apples, applebucking season was over and the trees were barren of any apples at the time, but there was many old and rotten apples left over that covered the fields. I remembered from the show that Applejack and Applebloom did this together, but I offered to do it for free as a thanks for taking me in. I didn't need to earn money due to my efforts during applebucking season. After a couple hours I finally finished cleaning up the fields, I had been working away at it for all week and I was glad to have it finished. I decided to check on Applebloom before going off to practice flying. I walked into the house and asked Applejack if she was okay. I knew that she did something this episode but I needed to know what if I had any chance of keeping tabs on it.

"I tried taking her to sell apples with me and that turned into a disaster. I'm just worried that she'll get hereself into trouble."

"dont worry about I can go find her if you want."

"that would be kind of you."

"I won't stop her from trying to find her cutie mark but I will be sure to bring her home for dinner."

"couldn't you try to talk some sense into her?"

"no, I don't know how that would even work," I was starting to recall the episode, "besides it's really better if she tries to find her cutie mark."

I reached the door before remembering the scene with Applbloom selling apples.

"wait, Applejack,"

"what is it?"

"when you were selling apples did Applebloom pester a brown stallion with a spiky mane to buy some apples?"

"yeah, I believe so, why? How did you know about that?"

"because that pony is Doctor whooves and I havent been able to find him anywhere."

"oh, alright then."

while I avoided saying things that I only know from the show, it does slip out occasionaly. They know that I watched most of the show and that I wouldn't say anything important before it happened and ignore it mostly. I walked into town and thought of where Applebloom went first. I checked sugarcube corner to see if she was there. Ms. Cake said that she hadn't come by today. I left thinking of where she went before now. Rainbow Dash! She went to her first and they did some stuff, so she should be busy for awhile. I walked out into the open field where I practice flying. Patches of dirt were sticking out of the grass here and there from the hard falls that I had. I took off and flew around in search for Rainbow Dash. I couldn't find her and after a couple of hours I checked back in with Ms. Cake. She said that they had just left after baking some cupcakes. I hurried off, trying to figure out where she went last. I remembered where she went finally. I ran to the library and managed to arrive just as Twilight's attempts had failed. I came in, out of breath. Twilight was a bit startled at this. I didn't run often, and when I did I was either training, in a race, or something big was going down.

I started talking in between breaths, "Oh, (pant) my god, (wheeze) you wouldnt believe how long I've been trying to find you Applebloom."

Applebloom was a bit worried at my state, "why were you trying to find me?"

"because I promised Applejack that I would bring you home for dinner."

Twilight calmed down at this, Applebloom was a bit confused, "you ran all over town just for that?"

"heh, what do you think I am crazy? I mostly came to back you up at the party."

"I'm sorry about this but I don't think I want to go to the party today."

"oh yeah, you decide not to go. I forgot what happened next in this episode but I think it's best if I just let it run it's course from now on. I will see you later Applebloom."

"okay..." she seemed a bit skeptical and left.

Twilight walked up to me, "thats not the end of it for you is it?"

"oh I'm going to the party alright, I will mostly be making sure that what is supposed to happen happens."

"I thought you kept a strict "no interfering" rule."

"I wanted to be there for her this one time, plus I think this might lead into me getting my own cutie mark."

"I thought you didn't care about not having one."

"thats mostly true, but cutie marks are still a bit about who you are and I don't like not knowing what my passion is."

"have fun at the party and good luck with your cutie mark."

I left and tried to think of where the party was. I couldn't remember where it was, my only hope was to stumble into where the party was. I felt hungry. I wanted to have some lunch but I had already promised, if only to myself, to stand up for Applebloom at the party. I couldn't ignore being hungry for much longer and my thoughts were being taken over by my lunch options. I headed to my favorite snack place to pick up a quick bite before continueing. It was the only one in town and they had some of the best crackers I've ever had. I walked in only to find the party in full swing. I mentally slapped myself for forgetting where the party was. I scanned the room for Applebloom and managed to find her. She had a tablecloth on to strategically hide the fact that she didn't have a cutie mark. I found a corner and sat down to watch the scene. Applebloom was being questioned by the two stuck up fillies hosting the party. I watched the scene unfold. the tablecloth was off, she was embarrased and- shit, she saw me. She's calling out to me back her up like I said I would. I didn't know whether helping her would keep her from meeting Sweete belle and Scootaloo. I wanted to remain an observer, fuck it, I will introduce them to each other if need be but I was backing her up. I walked over to her. I must have been quite a sight, I was three times as tall as any of them. I would quickly turn intimidating if I didn't counter act it, I spoke to Applebloom in my best imitation of Fluttershy, "is something wrong?"

"you said you would support me."

the two fillie's hosting this snickered, I heard one of them in a hushed tone call me "blank flank". Now, I don't care about bullies, they can sound off all they want but the worst they can do is annoy me. However, something about having two little fillies call me a cheesy insult sparked my temper. I looked at them and spoke harshly, "is there anything wrong with not having a cutie mark? just because we don't have one doesnt mean that we are any less than you!" I was yelling at this point, "the only thing it means is that we haven't figured out what our calling is yet. If anything WE are the lucky ones because we can do whatever we want, Applebloom could become a doctor and get a medicine cutie mark! She could invent stuff and get a cutie mark there! What could you do? Your cutie mark is a tiara! What I'm terribly but there's only two princesses in equestria and the only royalty you are is a royal pain in the neck." I finally stopped, content with my speech. the entire party was looking at us, more specifically; they were looking at me. I felt like a dick for yelling at them at their own party, even if they had it coming. Luckily attention was drawn away from me when Scootaloo and Sweete belle appeared out of nowhere. The scene began to progress as normal and I began to slide off into the background. I watched the cutie mark crusaders form before I made my way back to the farm. As I went I felt as happy as could be for standing up for Applebloom. I had the weirdest urge to stand up for someone else. I wanted to solve all the problems in the entire town. I was feeling the most amazing mix of pride and joy. Finally, I made it back to the Acres and walked into the house. It was late now and dinner would be done soon. I found that Applebloom had made it home before me. She was sitting at the table waiting for dinner to be finished. I walked past her to go into the kitchen, she looked at me and her jaw dropped. _I wonder what her deal is tonight?_ I walked into the kitchen to find Applejack and Granny Smith making dinner. Applejack looked over at me, "hey there sugarcube!" that word hit me like a sack of bricks.

"hi Applejack."

"I take it you had fun at the party."

"yeah, why?"

"Applebloom told me all about it and I just want to say thanks fer standin' up for her."

"yeah sure anytime."

Applebloom walked into the kitchen, her mouth still wide open. Applejack looked back at her, "what's wrong Applebloom."

she didn't say anything, she simply pointed at me. That was a little concerning for me, "what, is there something on my back?"

I looked back and I saw it, a little iron shield, sitting on my flank. I should've felt proud, happy, amazed. The only thought I had was, "huh, that kinda figures now doesn't it?"

Applejack moved to take a look at it, she smiled when she saw it, "look's like one of you got their cutie mark."

"must've been Applebloom cause this is a manly mark." The dinner was nice, I took heavy part in the conversation and even managed to crack off a few more jokes. After dinner I went to bed. Today was the first time in weeks that I was a major part of the episode. I was glad to finally have myself a manly mark, and even more glad that I was a part of this world in the first place. I had a quick thought of earth, I wondered what would happen if I went there as I am now. It didn't get past that and I continued thinking of what would happen next week. The next episode I watched was with Pinkie Pie's twitches and I knew that was atleast a month away. I decided to go along with the next few weeks as normal. Hopefully I won't screw anything up. I was still deathly scared of having to deal with discord. If he got a hold of what I know then he might win. I need to get out of this before it happens. The only question was, would I be willing to go home after all of the things that has happened. I feared for that day and I feared for that decision and I had nightmares of a triumphant discord and a never ending chaos.

Author's notes

today I had a MASSIVE wave of inspiration and I couldn't stop typing. Overall I'm happy with the chapter and I'm happy to have made it to chapter 7. I've been looking though the story traffic and this story has been getting more attention than I could have hoped. I also noticed that there were a few consistent readers in italy So this is a shout out to you since I like Italy so much.


	8. Chapter 8

Pre-story Author notes

a couple of things I want to address. First off, to that anonymous user who gave me that kind review. I applaud the formality in your review and if you wanted to help me or pitch me ideas I would be more than happy to accept them. You can reach me at I look forward to possibly working with you. secondly, as for any grammar issues, I will go through all of my chapters and fix them sometime before chapter 10 is released. I don't think that I know everything about good grammar so if anything gets revised more than once without me fixing it, please send me a message pointing it out. Thank you for all of your support, I appreciate your input and reviews. Now onto the actual story.

Chapter 8:not an observer

The next morning I woke up to the same questions that had been pestering me since I got here. I didn't feel like worrying about them so I didn't answer them. They went their course and when they passed they didn't come back. I got up and went outside. There were clouds that were being pushed in for some rain tomorrow. I wanted to be happy and carefree, but I couldn't. I hadn't watched all of season 1 and I knew that it would be awhile before I was back onto familiar events. I needed to tread carefully, I needed to keep a watchful eye for any events that seem like an episode. I decided to go check on Twilight and see if she wanted to know what happened in the show. I looked back at my cutie mark and smiled, I knew what it meant and I could still feel a faint motivation to find somepony in trouble and help them. I couldn't remember what came after Call of the Cutie but I knew that the Iron Pony competition hadn't happened yet. You know what? I am sick and tired of watching. I have the chance of a lifetime, I can change the course of this show and here I am watching it. From now on I'm going to change things for the better. this isn't a show anymore, it's my new reality. I saw Applejack taking her apple cart out to town to sell some apples. I called over to her, "Hey Applejack, how many apples do you sell a day?"

"I sell around fifty or sixty, maybe even a hundred on a good day, why?"

"how many apples do you have in stock?"

"gosh, we must have thousands in there."

"do you ever have any apples go to waste?"

"oh there's plenty, we use em' as fertilizer for the saplings we plant. Why are you askin' all of this stuff anyhow?"

"well," I was thinking, if I could export some apples to some of the larger cities then that might get enough extra profits to get Granny Smith that new hip replacement. I explained my plan to Applejack, she looked at me with wide eyes.

"and you'd be willing to do that fer us?"

"yeah, anything to help."

"well, what do you want for it?"

"nothing, I'm becoming a strong flier so I might get a job as a weather pony. I will still help out with applebucking season but I think that I'm done with working as an employee for you."

"why the sudden change of heart?"

"In the show you always talk about getting a new hip for you grandma but you never actually get one. I figure that since I am a part of this world now I can influence and change things that I don't like."

"oh... anything else that you're gonna change."

"uh, now that I think about it... I might as well help out Rainbow Dash become a wonderbolt. And I could probably think of something to do for the others too."

"thanks fer being so helpful around the farm. And thanks for taking care of Applebloom yesterday."

"okay, your welcome, I'm going to get going now."

"alright."

she continued pushing her cart towards the town and I continued making my way to Twilight's library. I took off and flew over there, I was much more confident in my flying and was able to get a fair bit of speed. I managed to get there in a couple of minutes, I landed and knocked on the door. Twilight opened the door and I greeted her, "Good morning, have you sent your letter to the Princess yet?"

"just sent it last night."

"okay then, may I step inside?"

she moved out of the doorway and I walked inside. The library was warm and cozy, I always liked the architecture and planned on sitting around and just look at it one of these days.

"Thanks, the events yesterday were on the episode "Call of the Cutie" however, it went exactly as it did in the show except with me there. That's trivial, what I came here for mostly is because I don't know when the next episode is."

"what do you mean?"

"I watched most of season one but not all, it's about a month before I know what happens again. Until then, I am going to change my "no interfering" policy. I still won't mess with major plot points but I will be doing a lot more things."

"like what?"

I explained my plans to help Applejack and my ideas for Rainbow Dash. I asked her to tell me if anypony else had anything major that I could help with. I left and began to consider my options for today. First of all I need to meet the rest of the mane 6. I had seen and talked to all of them over the months being here, but I haven't actually done anything with them. I could always find something to do with them, it's not like they are going anywhere. I needed a new job, I would probably continue to live with the Apple family but I needed to find some way to support myself. I wanted to work for Rainbow Dash. I was confident in my flying enough, and I sure as hell could put in the effort. The only problem was finding who hired her and getting them to hire me. It felt odd having to deal with these things. I was responsible enough, but I was still 15 and it still felt odd to have a job and earn money and be independent. It was pleasant, and I was proud of it, I just couldn't get over how odd my life has turned. That got me thinking of my own world again, of my old life, of my old home. I was healthier, I was rarely bored as I was treated as an adult and had freedom to do what I wanted. I was happier and everyday left me exhausted which led to better sleep. I enjoyed how quiet it was, and I enjoyed flying. My life was much better than it once was, and I couldn't say I wanted to go back anytime soon.

I took off flying in search for Rainbow Dash. I managed to find lounging on a cloud. I swooped down to land on the cloud, I knew I probably could but I had never come in contact with a cloud before. Much to my surprise, the cloud felt like a mattress. Rainbow Dash looked over at me, "what do you want?"

"who hired you?"

"it's some company that pays pegasi to keep the weather on schedule."

"where can I find them?"

"they have an office over by all the shops, you can't miss it."

"alright thanks."

I took off and glided down to the market district. I looked up and down the road before finding it. It was a small office in between a couple of stores and had a sign up saying "clear-skies weather control". I walked into it's cramped space, I was greeted by a pony sitting behind a desk. I walked up to the desk, "Hi my names Tommy and I was hoping to get a job as a weather pony."  
>She looked at me from behind old reading glasses. She had the face of somepony who had seen her glory days come and go.<p>

"the only spots we have open are with Rainbow Dash's squadron. She's our best flier so you need to take it up with her."

"anything that I need to know about being a weather pony?"

"IF you get hired, we will mail you a weather schedule and you will be expected to meet up with your squadron leader and follow her instructions. Don't get your hopes up kid, Rainbow dash is picky and if she doesn't give you the go ahead then you might as well find a job as a mailpony."

I wasn't encouraged at this, but I was friends with Rainbow dash and that alone improved my odds. I went and found Rainbow dash napping on the same cloud. I landed gently and kicked back to wait for her to wake up. It was a nice day, it was a cloudy day. I began to think of the weeks ahead. I needed to prepare myself, both physically and mentally, for Discord. I knew that the gala was the season finale and I would use that as my marker of when to really prepare and condition myself. Discord had no way of knowing that I knew spoilers right off of the bat, but if I somehow got sucked up into the episodes events I needed to be prepared. I took a deep breath and sighed, I still needed to meet and have a day with the rest of the characters. I was friends with all of them but I haven't truly hung out with anypony other than Applejack and Rainbow dash. I was, however, hanging out with Applejack the most. I remembered the two times I had been called "sugarcube" I wanted to believe that it was just odd choice of words, she calls others sugarcube from time to time but I had also been hanging out with her the most and been doing the most nice things for her and her family. I didn't want it to make sense, but it did.

Rainbow dash began to stir, I looked over at her and saw her eyes open. She stared at me for a couple seconds before finally saying something.

"what is it now?" she said groggily.

"I can be a weather pony but I would be in your squadron."

"great for you." she yawned

"I need you to say it's okay for me to join though."

"do you even know how to move a cloud?"

"don't you just push it?"

"yes but how do you make one rain? Or make lightning?"

"I don't know but you do."

"I don't want to have to train a rookie."

"you won't be training a rookie, you'd be training me."

"fine, but not right now." she rolled over

I stood up, "what do you mean, not right now?"

"not now, I'm busy."

"with what? You are napping on a cloud!"

"it's training."

"FOR WHAT? The sleep brigade?"

"I need my rest if I am going to stay in tip-top shape."

"if you won't teach me then I'm going to teach myself."

I stormed off in search of some clouds. I found a couple of clouds and shoved them over to my training fields. I thought of how weather was controlled in the show. "well," I thought to myself, "they kick and buck the clouds and it rains. Seems simple." I punched the cloud as hard as I could and a short burst of rain poured down. I landed on the cloud and got ready to buck it as hard as I could. My months at the Acres had made me a lot stronger, and jolt of lightning struck the ground when I kicked. I began testing out different ways of kicking and punching clouds until I found out how to make it rain non-stop, and how to make them disappear. Victorious, I flew a cloud over to the cloud where Rainbow Dash was lazily napping. I quietly flew it directly above her and punched some rain down onto her. She woke up and looked up at me, I could see that she was annoyed.

"I said I would teach you later, couldn't you just wait for me to finish my nap? Who taught you anyway?"

"you did."

her face turned to a look of confusion, "I did?"

"yeah, in the story you always kicked clouds or hopped on them so that's what I did. It worked pretty well so I came here to tell you that I can join you and your squadron."

"I still haven't said yes."

"you haven't said no either, and that's enough for me."

"I'll think about it."

"thanks! Have a good nap."

I flew away with my cloud. That solved my job issue, now to see what else there was to do around town. I still hadn't taken the time to chill out with Rarity, Pinkie, or Fluttershy. I decided to find a way to spend tomorrow with Rarity. Today, I would continue helping Applejack. I flew back to the barn. The sun was beginning to go down so I had about two hours to do whatever I was going to do before night rolled in. I kicked the cloud out of existence and landed on the house's front porch. I looked inside, only Granny Smith and Applebloom had come home yet. I waited around and in an hour Applejack came home. She looked at me and smiled, "hey there sugarcube, you came home early."

"I was looking for you."

"well what d'ya need?"

"I was thinking of maybe you and me go to one of the nearby towns and look for somewhere that will buy your extra apples."

"Oh really? Where were you planning on going?"

"There must be a large bakery somewhere, one that requires unbelievable amounts of ingredients to fill out orders to thousands of ponies. If we can find something like that then you could sell them your extra apples, I would carry them over there for you, and you would be able to save up to buy Granny a new hip."

"you would go through all that trouble for us?"

"bah, it's no trouble. I've been needing something worthwhile to take up my spare time."

"well I thank ya kindly fer doin' this for us."

she walked away into the kitchen, Dinner would be made soon. I wondered where Big Macintosh was and what he did all day. I looked over at Applebloom, who was sitting at the dinnertable, "hey Applebloom."

"what is it?"

"how was your day at school?"

"it was good, ever since the party I haven't been picked on."

I smiled at that, "that's cool, are you getting along with Scootaloo and Sweete Belle?"

"yeah we made a group, we're calling it the cutie mark crusaders."

"great for you guys." I was happy to have been involved in that episode. it's cool to see a happy ending on a TV show but when you see it first hand, the feeling is indescribable.

"I heard you talkin' to my sis', said something about helping us with Granny's hip."

"I'm going to be helping your sister sell extra apples to the nearby towns."

"could I help?"

"it's a little bit dangerous, even if I'm wrong, and it's perfectly safe, it's still a very long trek."

"but it might help me get my cutie mark, you promised you would help me get one."

"your entire family has apple related cutie marks and so will you."

"but this IS apple related."

she got me there, I had been bitten by my own snake, "fine! I will take you, but only if your sister says that it's okay."

she smiled and happily went into the kitchen. I waited around a few minutes, I heard some arguing in the kitchen before Applebloom came out with a broad smile.

"what did she say?"

"she said I could go!"

"great, how about we go this weekend?"

"well, Applejack is going to be busy this weekend."

"we could still go, I need to scout out the nearby towns for any bakeries."

The room fell silent for awhile, Big Mac came home and things remained quiet until dinner. I went to bed after dinner, my mind alight with my busy day and my busy week ahead. I was happy to be taking a more prominent role in the world. I still had worries about Discord, but as long he doesn't know that I've seen the show everything will go alright. After that bit of chaos was over, I could continue to help out around town freely and be a part of my favorite episodes. I had a brief moment of thought as to why I call major events episodes before remembering the show. I was a little concerned of forgetting my roots, but how could I possibly forget about 15 years of my life. I slept easy knowing that life has finally reached the perfect blend of freedom and purpose that I would have had to wait several years before getting as a human. That night I had pony dreams of pony worlds.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: puttin' on a Ritz

I woke up the next morning to the same questions that I always do. I ignored it until it came to the final question; what am I doing? I thought about that for a second. I had plans for today, I wanted to have a special day with Rarity. I got up and headed out, I walked into the house and made myself some breakfast. I still wasn't used to using my mouth as my hands, but I managed to make some toast with some apples on the side. Content with my meal, I walked out to Rarity's house. I finally arrived and knocked on the door, I heard a bit of crashing before the door finally opened.

"yes?" Rarity asked

"hello Rarity, are you... okay back there."

"oh yes, don't mind me just in the middle of making my latest fashion line."

"sounds cool, can I help?"

her eyes widened for a second before putting on a nervous smile, "ah, yes, well, you see."

"what's wrong?"

"I would love some help but,"

I was getting a bit annoyed, "but what?"

"no offense but, have you even _seen_ yourself in a mirror lately?"

"not really, I never thought about it."

"never thought about it?" she was outraged, "how could you never even _think _about it, you are an absolute mess."

"okay fine, I will go jump in the river or something."

"oh, no no no no! You need a shower, or better yet a bath."

"okay fine, do you have a shower or a bath in your house."

"oh but of course, it's just upstairs."

"alright then I'll go clean up then."

"yes, well, about that."

"now what?"

"just let me go get something for you to step on."

I waited as she lifted up some nearby papers and made a trail leading through the house and up the stairs. I sighed, I knew where this was going. She came back, "if you would be so kind as to only step on the paper."

I sighed, I walked on the paper trail all the way up to the bathroom. I walked in, it was a very extravagant bathroom by my standards. There was a big fancy bathtub with a shower nozzle, a sink with a fancy mirror, and the room itself could be a bedroom on it's own. I walked up to the mirror and took a good long hard look at myself. I was shocked at the things I didn't notice or even think about since I became a pony. My fur was a very light brown, it looked like a lighter shade of Doctor whooves's coat. My hair was a dark brown, it was the same as my hair was as a human. My hair was messy from months of being ignored. It was considerably longer than when I first got here and looked more like a mane than my old haircut. I spread my wings to get a good look at them. they were in every respect, wings. The feathers were surprisingly straight for how much abuse they had gone through when I was new to flying. My eyes were brown, as they had always been, and they were as large as any other pony's eyes were. It was odd, the last time I had looked at myself I was just a regular guy, and now I'm here, a pony, in Rarity's bathroom. I laughed at how far I have come and stepped into the shower. There were two little knobs, one had a little H and the other had a C. I turned the H knob and hot water poured down onto me. It felt nice. I hadn't had a good shower for months, scratch that, I hadn't bathed in months. It felt nice to just stand in the water, it provided me with time to think, time to wonder. I was independent now, if I wanted to think I could clear my schedule and hike through the woods. I reached for the soap, it wasn't until my hoof did a fantastic job of not picking it up that I realized I couldn't use it. I looked for shampoo, there were rows and rows of fancy shampoos and conditioners. I picked the least girly looking one, I managed to pop the cap open and squeeze some out onto my hoof. After a few minutes I finished my shower, I got out and realized that fur doesn't dry easily. If I forgot a towel as a person I could just stand around and air dry, but fur will stay wet for hours. Luckily there was a towel rack filled with all sorts of fancy towels. I picked up a plain white towel, after I was dry I looked at myself in the mirror. It felt nice to be clean, my fur was a bit lighter now, and I noticed that a lot of spots of dirt were now gone. Overall I felt happy with myself and proudly walked out into the hallway. I went downstairs. there was a trashcan filled with crumpled, dirty paper. I looked around for Rarity and wandered through a doorway. I found Rarity in a large room, it's walls were covered with dress ideas she had sketched, there were mannequins with half finished dresses, and there was bits of cloth and string strewn about. Rarity was working on a dress, I cleared my throat.

She looked back at me, "yes, thank you for cleaning up."

"thanks for the shower."

"now you said you wanted to help."

"yes, now can I actually help you now?"

"I could use some help with an order I need to fill."

"what do you need?"

"well, normally I would be able to take my clothing to the stores myself but I've been, ah, busy. I need to deliver some dresses to a boutique over in Springfield, but I also need to finish up my next fashion line."

"couldn't your clothes wait?"

"I wish it were that simple but, I'm making these out of a flash of inspiration. I need to finish it before I forget how I want them to turn out."

"okay, fair enough. Where's the clothes I need to take out?"

"there should be a box out there, it will have the address to the boutique on it."

"alright, how do I get to Springfield?"

"just head north on the road out of town."

"how do I tell what north is?"

"the Canterlot palace is south of us, so use that as a compass."

"I'll go do that then, I will be back later."

"alright, see you then."

she continued pulling bits of fabric from around the room and sewing it into a design. I walked out and looked around for the box I needed to carry. There was a three foot tall wooden box sitting next to the door. I stared at it, stumped as to how I was going to carry it. I frantically looked around and found some unimportant looking rope. I prayed that it wouldn't somehow be required for Rarity's dresses and started trying to to tie it around the box. I managed to wrap the rope around as to cradle the box and tied the two ends into a square knot. I put it around my neck and thought about what to do next, if I walked the box would be obnoxious so I should probably fly. But if I flew and the box fell it might ruin the dresses. I decided to fly close to the ground and follow the road as normal. I left the house and looked around, I could see a couple of weather ponies clearing up the clouds. I took off, box held securely around my neck and in my hooves. I looked at the Canterlot palace, in the show it is very fancy in those mountains but seeing it first hand is just gorgeous. I flew off to the road leading away from it and began to scan the ground for road signs. After a couple of minutes I found a group of small signs and hovered down to read them. There were other towns but Springfield was a couple of miles away, or whatever the equestrian mile is. I flew across the road, the countryside was green and peaceful. The only noise was that of the wind in the trees and in my ears. After half an hour of flying I came across another road sign, Springfield was now ¼ of a mile away now. After a few more minutes I started to fly into the town. It was a nice town, it was a big town. I saw some tall buildings off in the distance, it reminded me of paintings I had seen of cities during the revolutionary war. I looked onto the box, on the side of the box it had "celestial fashion 923 Apple Ave." in clear, red lettering. I flew through the farmlands that surrounded the town. I flew for several minutes before reaching the suburbs. The streets looked like that of old London roads made of cobblestone, the buildings were made of wood and brick, and shops dotted the sides of the street. I saw somepony walking down the street, I landed and approached him. He stopped and stared at me, he was frowning and had a look of impatience.

"do you know where Apple Avenue is?" I asked him politely.

"Bugger off! I have my own problems to deal with." he had a harsh voice and stormed past me. "alright," I thought to myself, "big city, big city manners."

I wandered aimlessly, asking ponies here and there for directions. If they didn't yell at me then they just ignored me. I was beginning to get angry, I needed to stop myself from getting angry as fast as I could. I normally have a cool temper, but I get frustrated easily and when I get angry I am like a forest fire. I can't help but act like a jerk until everybody around me was just as burnt and frustrated as I was. I took off and flew towards the tall buildings in the center of the town. I landed at the edge of a wall of ponies. I heard shouting, yelling, chaos. the music of a thousand street musicians and the pleas of a million kiosks. I wasn't sure how to approach this, news footage of New York never showed crowds this big. I looked over at a nearby sign, Apple Avenue. My jaw dropped, HOW IN HELL WILL I FIND ANYTHING IN THERE! I got over my panic and took a deep breath. I took off the crate and roped it onto my back. I took a deep breath and walked into the crowd. It was ridiculous, I couldn't do anything without hitting against something. I slowly walked through, taking the path of least resistance, until I spotted the store. It was a massive fashion outlet filled with ponies buying the latest fashion trends. I made my way through the crowd and eventually made it into the building. There were still stupid amounts of ponies inside, but atleast I could walk freely. I walked through the store and was shocked at the size of it. There were rows upon rows of elegant dresses and clothing. It had the size of the biggest Walmart I had ever been in, I could spend hours staring at its sheer scale but I was on a mission. I looked for the nearest employee and saw a dark blue pony with a groomed mane. I walked up to him, "how may I help you?" he asked in a very snobbish tone.

"I would like to speak to your manager."

"get in line, nobody just talks to the manager of the biggest and most prestigious fashion boutique in all of equestria."

"I have a shipment of clothes from Rarity in ponyville."

he sighed, "I suppose that's worth her time."

I followed him all through the store, I saw everypony from just average folk to a couple of very rich looking ponies browsing the more expensive slection. We finally came to an iron door in the back, he took out a small key and opened it, "she is in here, its the door at the very end." I walked into a long hallway, it extended for about 50 feet before ending with a wooden door. It was cavernous and intimidating, it looked like a the inside of a soviet fallout shelter.I walked down to the very end, I turned the knob and open the door, I fully expected some shady figure to be in charge of the place. I opened the door to an old pony in a fancy dress. She had a gray mane and wrinkles about her eyes, her fur was turqoise, and she had a needle and thread cutie mark. She looked in every way like an average old pony. She looked up at me with cheery eyes, "what is it? Is that a package you have there?"

"yeah it's from Rarity."

"ah yes, I was wondering when that would arrive, you're a long way from ponyville. Whats your name."

"Tommy."

"tommy what?"

"just tommy."

"well tommy, what do you think?"

"about what?"

"my store."

"it's gigantic, I didn't think it was possible for anything to get this big in equestria."

"I made this store when I was a young pony, 50 years ago I bought this store and started selling handmade dresses."

"was it this big?"

she laughed, "oh no no no, this was just a small little shop, but I built it up, room by room, until it became what it is now."

"where should I drop off these clothes?"

"oh, just put them next to the door. I used to be just like Rarity."

"you did?"

"I used to make ends meet by selling my amazing work to anypony in town and to other fashion stores. That's why I'm ordering these clothes, I see a lot of promise in her and I want to help her anyway I can. So I order from her when I can."

"thats really nice of you, I should be on my way now."

"aren't you going to collect your pay?"

"yeah, sorry." I walked up to her desk and she gave me a rather large bag of bits.

"what are your dreams in life Tommy?"

"what do you mean?"

"do you have a plan? What are your goals, I wanted to be a famous fashion designer and look where that got me."

"I- I don't know."

"just food for thought, have a good day Tommy."

"alright... thanks."

I put down the crate and walked out into the hallway, what _were_ my dreams? Twilight Sparkle is living her dream as freaking student of Princess Celestia. I was helping Applejack with her dream of fixing Granny smith's hip. I was planning on helping Rainbow Dash get into the Wonderbolts. I was planning on finding something to do for the others, but I didn't have any dreams of my own. That left me stuck in deep thought all the way back to ponyville. I walked into Rarity's house. I found her in her inspiration room putting together a masterpiece. I was in deep thought and stood in the doorway until she noticed me. She made a few more stitches before walking over to me, "did you deliver it?"

"yeah, she got them. The pony in charge is really kind, you are lucky she is ordering from you."

"thank you for taking that for me, you have no idea how much that has helped."

"I'm sure I don't, here is the money she gave me for your dresses." I took the bag off of my back and she lifted it away and stowed it into a small safe.

"I don't have anything else for you today but thank you."

"okay."

I walked outside, the sun was high in the sky. I still had plenty of time to help out around the town but I was already tired. That lady had asked me a question I didn't know the answer to. I found a hill, high up in the Sweet Apple Acres, that overlooked all of ponyville. I sat up there, I was thinking for hours._ What was my dream? What do I want to acomplish in life? What are my plans?_ I felt sad, useless, unimportant. I felt like a plot point to show how they all became great. I felt as if my existence in this world was to be a character in the origin story of other great ponies, without ever having true fame or happiness of my sun was starting to crest the top of the mountain that the palace is perched on. I heard somepony walking nearby, I looked over and saw Applejack walking over to me. She looked a bit concerned, "are you okay? Ever since you came back today you've been sitting up here on this hill."

"Applejack."

"what is it?"

"What _is_ my purpose here?"

"I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean."

"What are my dreams, I've been helping you guys with your dreams but I never stopped to think about what _my_ dreams are."

"you're mighty helpful around here, I hate to see you like this."

"I hate to feel like this. I don't feel like I have purpose, I feel like luggage, like I'm just along for the ride."

she sat down next to me, "your not luggage, you are whatever you want to be. You think that I always knew what I wanted to do? When I was a little filly I wanted to live in the city, be a fancy city pony living in the city lights. I realized that all I really wanted was to be back here on this farm with my family. You don't have to know what your goals are, you just need to know what you want to do in life. And just because you have goals now doesn't mean that they can't change later. Just put one foot in front of the other and you'll figure out what you want sooner or later."

I felt a bit better at this. So what if I don't have any grand schemes, I can always just do what I always have and make it up as I go along. Eventually something would pop up, it just had to.

"thanks Applejack I never thought of it like that."

"glad to help. Come home soon, dinner is almost ready."

she walked away. I sat there, watching the sunset. I got up and walked down to the house, I was quiet at dinner that day. As I laid in my bed, I made a promise to myself. _No matter what happens,where I go, or what I do. I will find a dream and make it come true. whatever that dream happens to be, I will fight tooth and nail to make it become reality._ Content with my promise, and excited for another day, I slept. I didn't know what my goals would be, but tomorrow was the weekend and I had a promise with Applebloom.

Authors notes

I went through and fixed up the first few chapters. I also have been noticing that my chapters are getting longer and they have a bit more purpose than my first few. My first chapter was terrible, I still had no plot figured out, and I still needed to figure out my character. I'm glad that my story has made it this far, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. writing the dialog and transition between events is becoming more natural. My only worry now is running out of ideas. I'm going to be sad when I have to finish this story, it's been fun to write and I hope it is fun to read. I'm probably going to have two or three chapters devoted to the events brought by Discord. I have thanksgiving week off so I will go on a posting frenzy.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: finding your place in the world

I woke up, everything was fuzzy. I looked around, I found myself on a grassy plain that extended for miles around. I blinked and main six were standing in front of me. I looked at all of them, they were smiling at me. Rainbow Dash had her fur fade into the Wonderbolts uniform, she said something and flew away. Granny Smith walked past me, she no longer had a cane and her walking was much more relaxed. She joined Applejack and they walked away, fading into mist. A large building appeared, a red carpet lined with cheering ponies lead to it's entrance. Rarity turned and walked into it, the scene fading into mist as she did so. The building disappeared into another, smaller building. music could be heard booming through it's brick walls. Pinkie Pie cheerfully hopped into it. After that disappeared, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle were the only ones left. A large park, filled with animals from across the world, faded in. Fluttershy stepped back a few steps into it before fading into mist. The grassy plain turned to the throne room that the two princesses resided. Twilight Sparkle was standing next to Princess Celestia, they were talking about something. Twilight looked to me and I could hear her clearly now.

"thanks for helping us, but now what are you going to do?"

she stared at me, they were getting farther and farther away. I could feel myself falling, everything slowly faded to black as the two became farther and farther away. I woke up back in my hay pile. I was in cold sweat, my heart was pounding. "today," I thought to myself, "today I will find a purpose, I have to find one."

I stood up, my legs felt weak. I took a few steps and collapsed, I felt drained. I needed to find my way in life, I didn't want to spend my whole life in ponyville. I didn't have the energy to get up. I could feel the questions coming. What am I? I'm a pony, that's all I know. Where am I? Inside the barn that I might spend the rest of my life in. Am I happy? Does feeling like I have no real purpose in this world count? What am I doing? Being hopeless. Suddenly I heard a fifth question. What happened yesterday? I thought back, I remembered the old lady who had gotten me to think about all this. But more than that I remembered the talk I had with Applejack on the hill. I couldn't stay like this, I promised myself to never get this down again. I need to soul search, I need to think about where I am and what I truly want. Whatever happens, it can't be worse than feeling like this for the rest of my life. I felt my energy returning, I stood up and looked outside. The sun was rising up over the hillside. I went into the house, Applejack was making herself breakfast.

"you're up early."

"I think I;m going to run away from home today just to let you know."

"you are? Why?"

"I was thinking about what you said yesterday, I think I need to go by myself and try to find my own way in life."

"okay, I won't stop you. If you don't come back want you to know that we appreciated your help."

I made myself some toast and apples, after breakfast I took what was left of my money and went to town. I bought a satchel and a few supplies. I made preparations to leave, I said goodbye to everybody. I was back at the house, planning out my route when Applebloom walked in the room. I looked over at her, she looked sad.

"what's wrong?" I asked

"you're leaving?"

"yeah I'm leaving, I will be sure to visit though."

"but we were supposed to find a big bakery to sell apples to."

"well..."

"you _promised_ that we would go."

she had me there, I hated breaking promises.

"I'm sorry, I made a promise I couldn't keep. I need to get going soon."

she left the room looking disappointed. I felt bad about breaking my promise to her, but I need to get out of town for awhile. Who knows, maybe I would end up right back here. None of this made me feel any better. I decided to go see what Manehattan was like. I was used to city life from my time as a human, plus there was no shortage of towns to pass through. Somewhere along the way I was bound to find something worth doing my whole life. I drew out a little map of my route, I needed to head west for a few miles before reaching the first town. I left and began to leave the town, I stopped when I reached the edge of the town. The road was atop a small hill overlooking ponyville. I recognized the view and found it ironic; the same road I came here is the same road I'm leaving from. A single, lonely tear rolled down my face as I left the town I had become so fond of over the past few months. My journey hadn't even started and I was already feeling homesick. The trip to the first town was rather uneventful, that gave me time to think. I thought of what I would do at the first town, what I would do at Manehattan. I knew nothing of the city other than the name and the idea of it. This trip would be tough but I could pull it off, or so I hoped.

I neared the first town, Arlan. I could see it, it was an incredibly small town. The town was just some houses and stores on the highway surrounded by farms. I walked into the only food place in town. It was a cozy mom and pop place by the name of the empty platter. When I entered I was greeted by a stallion standing behind the counter.

"hey, a visitor! What brings you to town?"

I looked at him, he had a rather scrawny build with bright red fur. He wore the warmest smile I had seen in a long time.

"just passing through, heading towards Manehattan."

"Manehattan? I heard of that place, that's a long ways to go. Where you from?" he spoke with a slightly texan accent

"Ponyville."

"Ponyville, I've been there before. Nice town, why would you want to leave it?"

"I'm just trying to see if I can make a name for myself somewhere."

"you know, I saw a pony like you once. Was just passin' through here looking for a name of his own too."

"who was he?"

"well that pony came back a long time ago, and you know what? Yer talkin' to him."

"you ran off to a big city too?"

"yup, felt I was too big for this tiny ol' town. Went off to the big city lookin' fer fame and fortune. It wasn't until I was all the way in Manehattan before I realized that my place was with the ponies who mattered to me. Sounds an awful lot like you need to go there yourself to find out who you are. That's why they call that city the town of discovery."

"really?"

"well... that and because you can always discover somethin' just by looking at the ground there. Somepony came here with a little piece of metal, says somethin' on it."

"oh really can I see it?"

"I don't know, it ain't no words I've ever seen. But you can look at it all the same."

I walked up to the counter, he placed a small red bottlecap down for me to look at. I hadn't read english in the longest time but I could recognize it as a Coca cola bottlecap.

"where the hell did you get this?"

"he said that it just fell right out the sky, hit him on the head."

"when did he get it?"

"he said it happened while Nightmare moon was making a mess of things."

"this... this is a... it's... could I have it?"

he gave me a loom of bafflement, "now why would you want it? It's not useful fer nothin' you can't even read it."

"I can, it says coca cola."

"now what in tarnation is that."

"it's- it's a soda company where I'm from."

"so-dah?"

"it's a kind of drink. I just want it as a memento of where I came from."

"well sure, I guess. If you want it, I don't need it."

"thanks, it was nice meeting you."

"I could say the same to you."

I grabbed the bottle cap and put it into my satchel, it must've come in the same time as I did. I was glad it did though, I was beginning to come under the impression that I had always been a pony. I walked away from that town feeling good. That was a nice pony, I hoped that I would meet more like him along the way. On the way to the next town I found myself humming winter wrap up. It was odd, when winter wrap up happened the ponies actually did have a big performance. It was awkward for me, I was the only one in the whole town who wasn't running around singing while working. I was also the only pegasus that helped drag the snow plows. I approached the next town. It was bigger than springfield, I wondered how much bigger towns could get. The town was called Talinum, it looked like new york during the 1800s. I wandered through town, it was a maze of roads and brick. The sun was heading down, I had a few hours left of daytime. I needed to find a place to stay. I found a motel, it looked rundown and beaten. I walked in, there was an old wrinkly pony sitting behind a desk looking upon the world with tired eyes. He looked old and grumpy, everything about him seemed to emphasize how little he wanted to be here. Walked up to the desk he was sitting at.

I put on a smile, "I would like to rent out a room."

he looked at me as if I wasn't even here, "get in line, all of our rooms are full."

"ALL of them? Not even one is open yet."

"look, theres only three reasons why you'd be desparate to stay here, if you're hopeless, passing through on your way to Manehattan to claim your so called fame. Or you really are just a tourist. I haven't seen a tourist in years so which one are you, are you hopeless, passing through, or both."

"I will go find somewhere else to stay."

"listen kid, if you're going to Manehattan you won't find any fame. If you go there you will find yourself in an alley without a job and without a friend, I tell you this from experience. Just go back to whatever little town you came from, trust me, you'll be happier."

I turned around and headed for the door.

"HEY YOU!" I stopped, I turned my head to see who called. There was a pony dressed dressed in a suit, he was wearing sunglasses and his fur was a very dark brown. He had a royal flush cutie mark and he was very relaxed. I walked over to him and sat down at the table. He leaned up onto the table and crossed his arms.

"don't listen to that old grump. If it's Manehattan your after then I think we might be able to help eachother out." he sounded like a 1940s New yorker

"how so?" I was beginning to doubt the morals of the ponies in these big cities. I ponyville was full of honest, hard working citizens, but this was different. These big cities had a seedy underbelly that I didn't want to know about.

"you see, I'm in a bit of a predicament. I'm on my way to Manhattan as well."

"then whats keeping you?"

"well you see, I'm in a bit of debt, you see. And I was wondering if you could help me."

"who are you in debt to? Can't you pay them off?"

"heh, well, no. you see, I'm in trouble with, how do I say? Some less than honest horses, What town you from?"

"ponyville."

"I heard a' that place, I heard that it has some of the most kind and helpful horses in the world. Can't you, comin' from ponyville, help a guy stuck in a bit of a jam."

"what do you need me to do?"

"I have a cart, it's an old apple cart, you see. I will hide in it and put some apples on top so that you can carry the cart out of town. There will be some places where some horses that, are eh, looking for me. Might stop you, just act cool and we'll get out of this just fine."  
>"sounds easy enough, I'll do it if it gets me any closer to Manehattan."<p>

"alright, thanks eh, run your name by me again."

"it's Tommy."

"nice to meetya Tommy, the names Jackson."

"Jackson is an odd name for a pony."

"you're one to talk."

he got up, "follow me." I followed him out into the alleyway. There was an old apple cart it was filled to the brim with apples. Jackson lifted the top layer of apples, revealing a cavity large enough to fit a pony. He climbed into the cavity and pushed the apples back into position. I heard his muffled voice from inside the cart, "okay it's all up to you know, and eh. Go easy on the bumps."

I tied myself into the cart and started walking. Luckily, the highway to Manehattan went right through the town. Unfortunatly, there was a massive traffic jam caused by too many carts trying to pass through a narrow section of road. Two massive carts were jammed into eachother at a narrow section. They were surrounded by ponies trying to pull them out. Night had fallen and I had no intention of sitting around for several hours while they sorted this out. I took a detour, I thought that I could just go around the traffic jam. I was soon proven wrong by two burly ponies standing in the road. One had grey fur and the other had red fur. They both had boxing glove cutie marks. I didn't like this seen at all and it kept getting worse. The one called out to the other, "ey ruffstram, who do ya think this muppet is?"

"looks like an apple pony." replied the one named ruffstram

Ruffstram approached me, "what you got here? Apples?"

"yes, just some apples."

"and why would you be carrying apples down on our turf, they built a highway for yas."

"the highway is jammed, my order is running late so I thought I could shave some time."

"I see, I see. Ey' Lenny, what say we maybe we have a bit of a toll."

Lenny walked to Ruffstram's side, "I say that's only fair. You see, we get very hungry here protectin' the streets all night and I don't see why you couldn't part with a couple of your apples."

"okay, just..."

"just WHAT, I sees it as our street, our rules. You hand over a couple of apples and we won't beat you around too much. Does that sound good?"

"sure."

they walked over to the sides over the cart and began eating apple after apple. There weren't many apples on the top layer and it was only a matter of time before they discovered the cavity Jackson was in. I began slowly unbuckling all of my straps. I finished the last strap when I heard them find it.

"ey Lenny, what's this?"

I looked back, a bit of cloth was sticking out from the apples.

"it looks like a hidden stash. What say we take a peek eh?"

"yeah what you got in here, money? Are you smuggling somethin'?"

I saw them lift up the covers, one of them reached into the cavity. They weren't looking at me so I began sneaking over to the side of them. I was a few feet behind them when Lenny pulled Jackson out of the cart. Jackson was giving a nervous smile,

"so hey ah, fellas what can I do ya for?"

"your that Jackson pony aren't you? Oh boy will our boss ever be happy to see what we found."

Ruffstram turned to face me but not before being bucked in the jaw. He was knocked out instantly and fell to the floor. The other one yelled at the top of his lungs, "TROUBLE!" before joining his friend on the floor. Jackson jumped down onto the street, "jeesh kid I thought ponyville ponies were real pushovers." the street was suddenly filled with thugs of every shape and size. There must have been atleast twenty or thirty of them. "ah hell, kid. I didn't mean to bring you into this."

I didn't respond, I acted. I jumped onto his back and latched onto him. "AH, what the hell is wrong with you kid?"

I spread my wings and let down the hardest flap I could. Dust and wind went flying into the thugs faces as we lifted up ten feet off of the ground. I flew as fast and as hard as I could out of there, it wasn't until we landed just outside of town that Jackson stopped saying thank you. I was breathing heavily, but Jackson was just as out of breath.

"kid, were you for reals back there. You just knocked out two guys twice as big as you and flew me out of there. Are you sure you're from ponyville? 'cause I don't know anypony in that whole town who knows how to do that."

"all I did was kicked a couple thugs and flew you out of there."

"you sure? Cause when you kicked those two idiots you looked pro, you know what I'm sayin' you looked like you had a plan. Who taught you to kick like that."

"Applejack back at ponyville took me in and taught me to applebuck when I was new to the town. I worked for her for a few months before leaving to live in Manehattan."

"sounds like one hell of a gal, why'd you ever wanna leave a place like that?"

"I wanted to find a place of my own, to find my own place in the world."

"damn, why on earth would you give up a shot with a gal like that for the city life. Not many get to live the high life on Wall Street."

"wait a second, _earth_?_ Wall Street_?"

"eh don't worry about it, I don't feel like explaining."

"wait, does this mean anything to you?" I reached into my satchel and pulled out the Coca cola bottlecap and showed it to him.

"now where the hell did you get one a' those."

"I grew up in the suburbs around Los Angelos, perhaps you've heard of it. Were do you come from?"

I could see his bafflement, he stared in silence for a few seconds before snapping out of it. "eh, right. Born and raised in New York, I was the luckiest poker player in the whole damn city. I was in a bit of a fight over who cheated when I got thrown into a wall, but when I hit the wall I fell down into the streets of this city. What's more, I was a horse. Now I have gotten used to the town and being a talking horse but I still find it odd that theres someone else like me."

"what year where you in?"

"I got into the fight in June of 1941."

"I come from the year 2011, I think you'd be happy to know that the Allies beat the Axis powers."

"heh, who woulda thought that the europeans would sort that war out themselves."

"America helped."

"we did?"

"yeah we didn't enter until december 1941 when hawaii was bombed by japan."

"now why would they do that?"

we continued walking to the next town. While we were walking I explained all of his questions about America and the world all the way up through history until finally stopping at my time period. I explained to him My Little Pony, I told him about the show and it's fanbase.

"so, what you're sayin' is that this world... is the same as a show for little girls."

"yeah but a lot of adults and teenagers and guys watch it."

"I don't know why anything meant for little girls would act like those horses back there did."

"they're called ponies, you should start calling them that."

"anything else I need to know?"

"replace body with pony. Anypony, somepony, everypony, so on and so on. Also you know that mark on your flank?"

"yeah that little ass tatoo I have."

"it's called a cutie mark, you get it when you figure out your passion in life. Have you ever gotten a royal flush before?"

"sure have! Easiest 500 bucks I'll ever get."

"if you are so good at poker then why did you get into so much debt?"

"I don't understand this pony money, the poker here is rigged or somethin' and I can't read a damn thing. I thought ponies here spoke english."

"no they speak equestrian, it just so happens that it sounds exactly the same as english. Remind me to teach you to read one of these days."

"okay, well, think I need to go to sleep. I'm getting' tired."

"it's miles before we get to the next town. If we sleep now we might not make it there tomorrow."

"I can live with that."

"I only have enough supplies for myself to last a couple of days, I don't think it will last as long with you around."

"do you have any other solutions?"

"hop on my back, I'll carry you there if I have to."

"eh eh, I don't intend on riding my friends like horses, even if they are horses."

"don't worry about it, I'll make camp when I get tired and when you wake up we will be a lot closer to Manehattan."

"fine."

he stood over by my side for a second, trying to figure out how to approach this.

"forget about how people ride horses, if you can't figure this out then I'll figure it out for you."

I lowered my head and walked underneath him, lifting him up as I did so.

"waah, I don't know if this is such a good idea."

"I lifted barrels of apples heavier than you."

I continued walking, I soon heard him snoring. I walked long into the night, It wasn't until the moon was beginning to make way for the sun that I put him down and set up a little camp. I set it up at the side of the road behind a large log. I figured that if anypony was still chasing us, we wouldn't be easy to spot. I thought of my busy day, and I thought of my true motives for being here. I wondered why I left at all, I was perfectly happy in ponyville. Maybe I didn't need to be famous or anything, maybe none of that mattered as long as I was happy. I felt like I was onto something but I fell to sleep before I could figure it out.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: new town, new problems

I woke up the next morning, Jackson was still asleep. I got up and looked around, the sun was still barely raising up over the tree tops. I picked up Jackson and began carrying him, I was still tired from what happened last night. Despite my body's protests, I continued walking down the road. The next town was Manehattan, however it was a good twenty miles away. I could easily fly there in an hour but I had no intention of abandoning Jackson. It was few hours before Jackson began to stir. He lifted his head and looked around, "jesus kid, have you been walking all night?"

"no, you just suck at waking up. You didn't wake up when I put you down and you didn't wake up when I picked you back up in the morning. I would think that someone like you would sleep lightly."

I shrugged him off of my back, he landed with a thud. He mumbled his complaints and stood up. I stopped and turned to him. He straightened out his sunglasses, "where the hell are we?"

"we're twenty miles away from Manehattan."

he seemed shocked at this, "TWENTY MILES?"

"yeah, twenty miles. We should be able to make it before noon if we make a good pace."

"I didn't sign up for this."

"I didn't sign up to be wanted by a fucking pony mafia. You can either come with me to Manehattan, or walk the 30 miles back to Talinum."

"fine."

We walked in silence for a couple of hours. We were making fantastic time, it wasn't long before we were 5 miles away from the city. We rounded the final bend through the woods before seeing the city in it's glory. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. The downtown was composed of massive and artistically designed sky scrapers. The downtown was surrounded by miles of suburbs and that was surrounded by seemingly endless expanses of farms. I wanted to say something but nothing came out, there wasn't words for what I was seeing. We stood there in awe for what seemed like an eternity. Jackson looked at me, "Well, are you just going to stare or are you going to actually go there. Me? I've got a pack a' cards and a whole city of chumps."

"haven't you learned anything? Why not just find honest work?"

"oh I've learned something alright! I just haven't taken the time to figure it out is all."

"you're a wreck, Jackson. We should stick together in this city."

"ey' I can take care of myself thank you very much."

"says the man who almost beat to a pulp last night."

"I could've taken em' I just didn't want to hurt em' that much is all."

"listen, we need to stick together, atleast at first, neither of us have any contacts or friends in this city."

"hey, I'm the most likable person in this whole damn town. I can take care of myself, I'm 23 and how old are you?"

I thought it over. I was 15 when I got here, but I've aged since then. I could probably call the the day I got here as my birthday and use that.

"15"

he laughed, "you shitting me? You ain't old enough to drive and you think that I need you?"

I was getting annoyed now, "I don't think you need me, I think we need eachother. Like I said, neither of us knows anyone in this city."

"you think that we need eachother," he continued laughing, "maybe you need _ me_ but I sure as hell don't need any help from no kid."

"have you completely forgotten who saved your ass?"

that shut him up, "now, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. You did me a favor back there and I won't forget that. I just think it's the funniest damn thing ever that you think that I need somebody to keep me on the right track. You know what? Fine, from now on I'll keep my nose clean and if I can't then you can personally kick my ass. Sound good?"

"meh"

"didn't mean to make you mad. if we ever bump into eachother in the street I'll be sure to make it up somehow, I just need to go get myself settled in. you can understand that right?"

I sighed, "fine, but... fine. Have a good time in the city."

"alright, thanks Tommy. I promise I won't forget what you did for me back there."

he walked away, I hoped that he would be able to keep out of trouble. I wanted to believe him, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before he...

"Hey Jackson!"

he turned around, "what now?"

"could you teach me to play poker?"

"yeah sure kid, what you wanna bet?" he pulled out a small deck of cards.

"a-ha" I shouted, pointing out his deck.

He looked at it for a second, "a ha ha ha you're clever kid, I respect that. Here, keep it. I can't keep any promises with a full deck in my pocket now can I?"

He reluctantly tossed it to me before continuing on. I looked down at the deck, it was a pack of ordinary New York playing cards. I was surprised that he managed to hold onto it for so long. I put it away into my satchel and flew off to the city, I didn't know what I would do or where to go. But I sure as hell wouldn't accomplish anything on that hill. I landed in some of the suburbs just outside of the downtown district, I began looking up and down the roads for a help wanted poster. I couldn't find a help wanted poster, but I did see a wanted poster. It struck me odd that such a large and well kept city would have any need for help from vigilantes. The poster showed a picture along with a description and where to contact the police. The criminal that was being searched for was an earth pony with a messy black mane, light grey fur and, ironically, a purse cutie mark. That struck me as odd until I saw the charges, 15 accounts of petty theft. Okay, so he's an earth pony that loves stealing purses from others. I thought it over for a second before breaking out into laughter. It made sense now, why waste resources looking for him when you could just put up a few posters and be done with it. I took the poster down and put into my satchel, I decided that the police could probably use some help and who was I to sit around while old ponies had their purses stolen. My mind turned to the countless old ladies saved by superheroes that were either just getting started or where in between major plot lines. I wandered the streets for awhile. I was mostly trying to find a job but I was keeping an eye out for this purse theif. I finally found a store with a help wanted sign. I walked into it, it was a generic general store. It sold groceries, clothes, tools and school supplies. I went up to the counter, the clerk was a tired looking earth pony. He looked around my age and didn't look too thrilled.

"I understand that you have a job opening."

"yeah, I'll get my dad."

he walked throught a door in the back and soon returned with his dad. He was burly and his cutie mark was one of the scales that they used to use to measure money. He had a goatee and wore a smile.

"yes, hello, how are you today?"

"I'm good. I understand that you have a help wanted poster."

"sure do! We need somepony to do spare chores here and there."

"like what?"

"theres only the two of us here and I need to be here all the time to run the store. My son here can do most of the chores but I mostly hire help."

"did the last guy quit?"

"no, we hired from other companies. However, their rates have gotten to the point where it really is cheaper to just hire somepony to work for us."

"that sucks."

"it was bound to happen. Sometimes we get a jerk and other times we get somepony that's lazy. I was thinking of this for awhile."

"I'm new to town so I'd be more than happy to do any work you have."

"oh, you're new here? Do you have family here?"

"uh..." I thought of the family I had back home, "no, I don't"

"where is your family? You look a bit young to be way out here without somepony to look after you."

"I can take care of myself, I just need to get settled in and find a place to stay."

"you don't have anywhere to stay? Where will you sleep?"

"it's not the first time I've been like this, I can figure something out. The first night in a new place is always the worst."

"I can share that sentiment. you'd be welcome to stay here for awhile."

"no, I really think I can figure it out on my own."

"how old are you?"

"15, why?"

"I can't just let you go out there on your own, you'll get mugged."

"I thought that this city was better than that."

"no, not here. Downtown where all the fancy ponies live, yes. But not in these neighborhoods. Listen, I just want to help. I won't force you to do anything, but if you change your mind my doors will be open for you. I just ask that you consider it."

"I'll keep it in mind. Do you have any work for me today."

he stared at me with an expression of concern, "I was planning on doing this tomorrow, but since you're working for us now I need you to post some flyers for our store."

"okay, wait, how do I put up flyers."

"you just, you know, put the flyer and staple it in."

"with what? My mouth?"

"no why would you do that? You have perfectly good hooves."

"but, I don't have fingers. How do I pick up stuff?"

"you just, pick it up."

I didn't understand, I had seen hooves be used as hands sometimes in the show but I just assumed that it was just for the show.

"I'm sorry, but could you show me how?"

he looked at me as if I was crazy, he reached behind the counter and pulled out a stapler. He placed it on the counter, "I don't know how to explain it, you just pick it up."

I walked up to the counter and put my hoof on the stapler, when I tried to pick it up nothing happened.

"I still don't get it."

"I have never seen a pony who couldn't pick something up."

I tried a few more times while wondering how the hell Jackson managed to keep playing poker without hands. After a few failures I decided that I was going about it all wrong. I tried everything I could think of before getting frustrated. I tried over and over again before finally I just concentrated on the stapler just being in my hoof and staying there. Imagine my suprise when that actually worked. The stapler sat there, sitting ever so smugly in my hoof.

"ah, you figured it out. Wasn't so hard now was it?"

I stared at the stapler. Seriously? That's all I had to do?

"now that you have that figured out you shouldn't have any problem putting up those flyers."

I've been using my mouth for everything this whole time and this is all I had to do? That's the big secret? Just imagine it staying in your hoof? I felt like an idiot for not thinking of asking anypony how to do this earlier. I just stood there, staring at the stapler that sat in my hoof.

"are you okay there?"

"are you guys serious?"

"what?"

"I've been using my mouth for months, and I just now figure this out?"

"I'm surprised you never figured it out, it was always just natural for me. Never even thought about it 'till you started having problems."

"anyways... I'll post your flyers for you then."

"thank you, and do be careful out there."

"I will. Also, what's your name?"

"Allonso, but everypony here just calls me Big Al."

"thanks Allonso, I'll be back when I finish."

I put the stack of flyers away into my satchel and walked out of the store, stapler in hand... hoof... thing. I made a little procedure out of it; one flyer to each corner of the block and one in between. I had finished up with the four closest blocks to the store when I heard a cry for help. I rushed over to where it was to see some old pony wrestling over a purse with some pony that had light gray fur and a black mane. I pulled out the wanted poster. I was going to stop this either way but I needed to know if this is the one. Colors? check. cutie mark a purse? Really cheesy, but check. I walked over to the scene, I put a hoof on the thief's shoulder.

"what the hell do you think you are doing?"

he pushed away from me and got into ready stance.

"I'm making a living! What does it look like?"

I pulled out the wanted poster and showed it to him,

"I suggest a new line of work then."

"you'll never catch me!"

he started running away, I sighed. Here I was, trying to convince myself that my life wasn't a comic book and then this happens. I flew after him. He ran fast but I flew faster and it wasn't long before I managed to tackle him to the ground. We both got up around the same time. I was about ready for there to be a brawl, I guess he was too because he lunged out at me. His hoof connected with my jaw and for a split second nothing passed through my mind. I recoiled back and came back with my own punch. I didn't see his reaction as I threw my other hoof at him. I felt it hit something soft and he yelped in pain.

"no more, no more."

I backed up and looked at him, already two large bruises were forming on his sides.

"will you go quietly?"

"yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were a boxer."

Boxer? Not only was there pony boxing but I guess that I had the punch of one. All of the applebucking I used to do must have gotten me pretty strong. How funny, I was a hundred miles away and Applejack was still helping me. Suddenly the thought struck me, I had no idea where the police station was. Luckily, in an event that further cemented the idea that my life was some weird superhero comic, a police horse ran up to us. He flashed a small badge at me.

"stop! You have violated the law! You are now under arrest by the authority of the Manehattan PD."

"don't arrest me! I was just trying to catch this guy, He's wanted."

I showed the poster to the officer. He looked it over before nodding.

"very well, thank you for the assist. If you help bring him to the station then we will give you the reward."

My ears perked up, Reward? I would be fine with doing some good but this was a nice bonus. We followed him to the station. It was a large brick building that reminded me of 1940s New York apartments. It was surrounded by police ponies that were either standing guard, or on their way to patrol the city. The officer we had been following turned to me, "alright, you've done good just walk inside and turn in the poster I'll take care of the rest."

I walked into the station's main lobby. There was a desk clerk standing idly by. I walked up to her and gave her the poster. She looked at it for a second before filing it away into one of many filing cabinets.

"Somepony finally got him, eh? Just take a seat and we'll confirm that he's in custody and we'll take it from there."

I took a seat next to a table covered in magazines. I flipped through a couple to test how good I've gotten at reading equestrian. They were generic entertainment magazines providing useless information on all the big "celebrities". I flipped through and landed on a page about Photo Finish's amazing tour of Equestria. That name sounded familiar, I could recognize her, but I could not say why. I tried to think of an episode that had her in it, my memories of the show had faded, in it's place were the events over the past few months. I found it odd that I could only remember faces of old friends now. I was on the verge of figuring out what had happened to my lost memories when the desk clerk had called me up to the counter.

"alright, ya did good. He's behind bars now and as for your reward..."

"what is it?"

"you get to sleep easy knowing that you did a good deed, have a junior detective badge."

she sarcastically handed a small sticker that mimicked a badge with the words "I'm a future detective!"

"what?"

"listen, sorry if you got your hopes up but this was a pointless case. We only put the posters up so that the old mares would feel like justice had been done. We don't have the resources, or the horsepower to worry about petty things like this. If you really want to do some good, join the force. Have a nice day."

"okay..."

I made my way back to the general store, posting up flyers as I went. I finally found it just as the sun had set. I pushed on the door but it wouldn't budge. I cursed under my breath. I sat on the curb for a few minutes before I heard the door bell ring as Allonso opened his door, gesturing for me to come inside. I walked inside and looked around, the store was a different place at night. It's walls were coated with old posters and ads for movies that must've come out decades ago. The posters eminated a feeling of antiquity and wisdom. It felt as if I was being told a story of this stallion, what he liked, what he had seen, what interested him. He saw me staring at his collection and smiled, "do you like it? I collected those over years of watching plays across Equestria."

"you travelled?"

"sure did, I hitchhiked all across the country. I found work when I could and stayed in a town no longer than a week. Whenever I saw a poster I liked, I would take it with me. Looking back on it, I kind of miss those days. I didn't have many worries, but it's nicer here with my son."

"that's... amazing."

"yeah, we all hit that phase were we have to get out of our town and see the world. Funny thing, it isn't until we're in the most remote of places that we realize that home is so much better than the open road."

"yeah..."

"were is your home anyhow?"

"it's a long ways away..."

"can't be that far."

"my home is in Ponyville."

He was taken aback at this.

"that is a long way to go."

my eyes were attracted to an odd poster, it was a ad for a show by Trixie.

"you saw one of Trixie's shows?"

"sure did, one of the best street performers I've ever seen. A real braggart that one, I don't like her but her show is amazing. It's good as long as you don't take her seriously. Sadly, I think that she takes herself seriously. I worry about that Trixie's career, it can't end well."

"it didn't when she came to Ponyville, she got straight up kicked out."

"oh... I hear she's making a stop here in Manehattan."

"she is?"

"thats what I heard."

we stood in silence for a minute before he decided that it was time for bed.

"I have a couple places you could sleep around the place, just pick a couch and go to sleep, I'll have work for you tomorrow."

"okay, thanks Allonso."

"no worries, mister..."

"Tommy."

"goodnight Tommy."

He walked through the back door, I could hear him walk up some stairs. I continued into the living room of the store, it was behind the counter and had shelves covered in memorabalia. A few trinkets here, a newspaper article from years ago there. It was cozy, friendly, it eminated a warmth and comfort that I had only felt back home on earth. I found a few pillows and put them into an empty corner of the room. I relaxed and began thinking of the past few days. They had been filled with action and interesting ponies. I was enjoying myself but I felt homesick. I felt like my life had turned into a tornado of excitement and adventure and at the calm center was Ponyville. I missed the safety of that calm center and decided to make plans to go back there as soon as I got sick of the adventure. My dreams were filled with calm afternoons with Applejack on the Sweet Apple Acres.

Author's notes

my god this took awhile. I kept having issues getting into working on this chapter. What's worse is that I always picked up writing it mid sentence. Just a quick note, I will NEVER allow any of my stories to go without an ending. As much as cliff hangers might pain you, they also annoy me. Most of my writing is done on the spot as I'm typing so I don't even know what'll happen at times. For example, Jackson was a complete accident. I wanted him to provide my character some less than helpful "advice" but I managed to come up with a whole personality for him. Now, what was meant to be a one-off character has turned into a character that I plan to add into the main story. Thanks for reading and sorry if the delay has worried any of you.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Homesickness

I woke up the next morning expecting the warm, dusty smell of the barn. Instead I was greeted by the sight of posters and trinkets. I stood up and walked out into the store, Allonso was already behind the counter and greeted me with a smile.

"G'morning Tommy."

"good morning."

"just got a fresh shipment of apple fritters in, you should try em'."

he pulled out a small paper package and put it on the counter. I picked it up and unwrapped it, I took a bite and felt like I was back at Ponyville again.

"that's fantastic! Where do you get them?"

"my travels took me to Ponyville and I met an old mare who owned an apple farm. I liked her apples so much that when I started this store I ordered all of my apples from there. The ponies here love em' too, you'd be surprised how quickly they sell out. I figured that since you come from Ponyville I might as well give you the first bite out of the new package."

"that's really nice of you, who do you order from exactly?"

"some old family farm called Sweet Apple Acres."

I laughed at the irony.

"what's so funny?"

"even in a different city, I can't get away from that ol' farm."

"you came from there? You don't look like your from the Apple family."

"wasn't born there, I was more adopted really. Came to Ponyville and they took me in, I worked there for awhile then I came here."

"traded in the quiet farm life for a shot at the big city, eh? I know that feeling, except I actually kept the city life." he chuckled.

"heh, yeah. Got any work for me today?"

"not much, the flyers you posted are working charms and there isn't anything that I need done. Just take the day off, get familiar with the town. The folks here are real friendly."

"thanks."

"sure, just be careful out there."

I walked out and finished my fritter. Every bite brought out a fresh memory of the farm and I relished in the good times. There were few ponies on the streets, I found that odd for such an urban town. I began to wander up and down the cobblestone roads, memorizing street names and landmarks. There was an old abandoned movie theatre a few blocks away from the store and it seemed to be the border between the street I was on and the ghetto part of the town. A police officer patrolled the streets. I decided to avoid that area altogether and explore elsewhere. I began to turn away but no sooner did I start in the other direction did I hear shouting nearby. I looked behind me and saw the police officer start to run towards the noise. I tried to reassure myself "it's okay, he's got this. Just move on." the shouting slowly became louder and louder. Each step became an insult to my very being. I could hear the officer's voice join the shouting. I cursed under my breath and ran to the scene. I turned an alleyway and saw the officer. He was standing in between some mare, scared out of her mind, and about three thugs. I quietly walked up to the mare. She was a light purple and looked a lot like Berry Punch. I whispered to her, "why aren't you running? There's a bunch of guys trying to beat you up and you're just sitting here!"

she looked at me, trembling, and said, "I've got nowhere to go! I try to find work but I can't and now I'm stuck living in this alley."

"okay, there's a general store down that way. The owner's name is Allonso, tell him Tommy sent you. Got it? Go!" I pointed in the direction of the store and she was off like a shot. I walked up next to the officer, "need any help?"

he looked at me like I was a madman, "what are you doing? Get out of here civilian!"

"you're outnumbered just accept the help."

"darnit! If it wasn't for the police oath **I** wouldn't even be here."

"why would you sign up then?"

"I proud to be an officer it's just this one gang."

it sunk in what I had just gotten myself into. These weren't thugs, it was a gang. If it was a gang then punching one of them would cause everypony else in the group to want to return the favor.

"Fuck, too late now I guess."

The three had been listening to the conversation and were now walking in on the two of us.

"you get on the bad side of the biggest gang outside of Manehattan and all you can say is too late now I guess? You are either an idiot or a hero, and there aren't any heroes in this part of town."

"I could be a hero you don't know."

they were getting closer, fifteen feet, ten feet. I looked over at the officer, a single tear left his eye.

"darn this oath."

he pulled out a small baton and lashed out at one of the thugs, hitting him squarely in the jaw. Another one started to raise a hoof in retaliation. I jumped up and tackled him, we fell to the ground and by some streak of luck I landed on top of him. He growled at me and punched me in the side. I guess the other thug decided that I was a bigger threat because I felt another body tackle me. I could see the officer fighting off one of the thugs for a split second while tumbling through the air. I was pinned on my side, the two thugs were kicking me. I tried to figure out a way to break free but a kick hit me in the head and only one thought traveled through my mind: get the fuck up NOW. I began to kick and squirm before finding my footing and rising up. I felt dizzy, I couldn't see straight, and within seconds another punch hit me in the side. I stumbled for a second and hit up against the wall. I could feel adrenaline flowing freely, everything seemed a little slower. I looked over as yet another hoof hit me in the chest. I realized just how bad I was getting beat as the pain began to dull from my body. Everything was getting duller, I reached out with another punch that hit one of the thugs in the snout. He stumbled to the side and the other one began to jump. I lowered myself, causing him to land on top of me. I jumped up, bucking him off to the side. I looked over at the officer, the thug he had been fighting took another hit from the baton and fell over. I turned my head just as another hoof came swinging around and hit me on the cheek. I saw double as I began to lean to the side. My legs moved on their own in an attempt to keep me from falling. I had a couple good hits before I was done and I could feel it. I turned, got into position, and kicked wildly behind me. Luckily, it made contact with one of the thug and the officer ran past me. I heard a few smacks and when I got up I could see two thugs laying around unconcious. The officer put steelcuffs on both of them walked in front of me.

"thanks for your help, you should join the force." his voice sounded blurry.

"yerp elcome..." my words stumbled out one syllable at a time.

"you should see a doctor, they did a number on you. Head home, I'll call in backup to take these thugs away."

"weeelll... woun the res ah the gaing be affer me?"

"wow they hit you bad. No, nobody saw us except for these three and they won't be able to report you in to the gang."

I slowly nodded my head. I tried to say thanks but it never got past the planning stage. I stumbled off towards home. I tripped and stumbled over everything, my thoughts were incoherent, and everypony I passed looked at me as if I were on fire. I made it to the general store, my mind confused as to why there was a weird mix between russian english and french written on the sign. I walked in, Allonso looked at me oddly for some reason. He walked over to me, leaving a blurry trail as he did. He said my name a few times and mentioned a hospital. He picked up the phone he had behind the counter and called somebody. I sat down in front of the counter, trying to figure out what my name was. After a heated debate with myself I remembered that my name was Tommy and then promptly fell to the side. I was perfectly content with laying on the cold, comfy, tile floor when some talking horses put me on a stretcher. I smiled at the thought before realizing that this wasn't so odd. My mind straightened itself long enough for me to realized just how fucked up I was before returning to it's stupor. I passed out just after that and when I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. Allonso was talking to what looked like a doctor. I blinked a few times, trying to remember what the hell happened. There was a fight scene, and I saved a mare. Good enough for now, I stopped trying to remember as it was causing my head to hurt. I fell asleep for a few hours and woke up to the doctor staring at me with a pen and clipboard.

"ah, you're awake. Take a second to take in your surroundings, when you're ready, I have a few questions for you."

I looked around, it was a generic hospital. It's white walls and medical equipment smelled of cleaning fluid and nurses passed by my ward. I blinked a couple times, my head wasn't hurting as much and my thoughts were clear.

"yes, I- I- what are your questions."

"what's your name?"

"Tommy."

"where are you?"

"A pub in London. It's a hospital, you shouldn't need to ask that."

he looked at me with a raised eyebrow before continuing, "how old are you?"

"fifteen, I think."

"you should know your age."

"I know I'm atleast fifteen but I've... lost track of my birthday I guess."

"hmm, odd. And whats this about London? I've never heard of such a place."

"uh," I realized my mistake, "it's a small town, I grew up in it. Probably never heard of it."

"tell me about your childhood."

Oh shit, how could I answer that without sounding bad. I thought for a second and quickly found a solution. I shook my head side to side and said no over and over.

"are you okay?"

"I- I'm fine, it's- it's... I don't like to talk about it."

"talking about it will make you feel better."

"trust me, it won't."

"trust me, it will. I have a Phd in psychology."

"let's just say that I've made mistakes and I'm a different man now."

"man?"

"pony! Sorry."

"what's a man?"

damnit, I was digging a deeper and deeper trench for myself.

"none of your concern. It's- it's terrible. Nopony should have to know about it."

"hmm, you seem to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, it's were-"

"yes, I know what it is. And I'm telling you, I'm not shell shocked."

"shell shock? Nopony has used that in years."

"why not?"

"there hasn't been any wars! Now how are you, a 15 year old stallion, shell shocked in the middle of decades of peace?"

"uh- I- uh... I... there... there was a gang war! A terrible gang war in London. These two gangs fought eachother."

"and you were in the battle?"

"yes, but, not like that! I was forced to, I didn't understand what was going on I was just a young colt. I survived and ran away."

"and how have I not heard of this?"

"it was a small town, only 30 ponies lived there, everypony that survived the tragedy agreed never to speak of it again. Don't tell anypony please, they would get mad at me if they found out that I broke the oath of silence."

the doctor wrote a few things on his clipboard.

"thank you, I'm sorry about your town. I'll make sure to keep this a secret."

"thank you, just... thank you."

he walked out of the room, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I smiled at myself, I don't know how I did it, but I did. Atleast now I didn't have to explain earth and all sorts of other things.

My wounds hurt but the pained faded with each passing day. I saw my deeds be recognized in the weekly newspaper under the headline "brave pony saves mare and helps officer in alley brawl." there was talk as to who did it, I sat quietly knowing full well who did it. As the week went by I received a letter. I opened the letter wondering who would send me a letter. I looked at the letter for a second before I remembered how to read equestrian.

_Dear Tommy,_

_We got a letter from Allonso telling us what happened to you. We just wanted to send you our best wishes. We miss you and are glad to hear that you made it to Manehattan safely. We hope that you will visit sometime._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Twilight Sparkle._

I continued reading, all of them had written a short letter to me. I finally reached the bottom of the stack and began to read it.

_ Hi Tommy, sorry to hear about what happened over in Manehattan. I knew I should've told you were my relatives over there lived. I just hope that you get better soon. Applebloom is asking when you'll come to visit. It was nice to have your help around the acres and I'll sure miss it but I'm just glad that you're happy in the city. Get better sugarcube, we miss you._

_ Applejack_

Manly tears were shed as I realized just how much I missed all of them. I missed all of them but I missed Applejack the most. I put the letters back into the envelope and set it down on the counter next to my bed. As the week went by there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't read their letters before going to bed.

A month passed and I was fit to go back to the general store. Allonso, worried for my safety, had put me as the cashier while he dealt with most of the chores. Buisiness was slow, and for the first time in months I found myself daydreaming. The hours cleaning up around the shop was only interupted by the occasional customer. There was always a boom around lunchtime and the apple fritters from the acres sold well. Every week a new shipment came in with a letter from Applejack keeping me up to date on what was happening around the farm. I missed a race that she had with Rainbow Dash, and Rarity made them all dresses. With each letter I found myself more and more homesick. I was beginning to feel the first bits of depression, here I was with a boring job when an exciting life with my favorite pony is just a few days away. I never managed to get myself into good enough shape to travel back to ponyville, both psychologically and financially. I liked Allonso but I wanted to be home more than I did in Manehattan. I read the last letter Applejack sent me before going to bed and fell asleep to dreams of being in Ponyville again.

I woke up the next morning and went for a walk before I had to work. I told Allonso that I needed to think things over as I left, he simply nodded. I was walking down Baker St. when I heard a loud commotion. It wasn't the normal commotion I heard in the distance on this road. It wasn't panicked or chaotic, it was cheery and grand. Curious, I walked down a side street and found the source of the noise; Trixie having another one of her shows. I walked into the crowd, the show had been different since she was in Ponyville. She casted some other character as the hero that defeated the dreaded ursa major. She had also added a few more lights and flares to the show. I would've brought up Twilight Sparkle, but the mood I had been in lately left me with little energy to be ridiculous. Sadly, I had made a big deal about Twilight Sparkle last time and I could see Trixie recognize my face as she scanned the crowd. The show was just as spectacular as the first one, although she did tone down the bragging. After everybody had left, I was the last one looking up at the stage. I was lost in memories of Ponyville, and didn't notice that I was the only one left. Trixie came out from her trailer, she looked around and saw me. She walked over to me, "you're still here? The shows over, if you want an encore you'll have to wait a few hours."

I snapped out of my own mind and looked over at her, "oh, hi Trixie. It's cool that you toned down the bragging, you've matured that much. How has the show buisiness been doing? Staying out of trouble I hope."

She reeled back in surprise for a second before fully remembering who I was.

"yes, you're that one pony. You're friends with Twilight Sparkle, aren't you? I thought you lived in Ponyville."

"yeah, well... I live out here now... it's okay out here I guess."

"not so loud anymore, you caused quite the rucus over your Twilight friend."

"yeah, I'm not in the best mood right now. I really kind of wish I were back in Ponyville right now."

"then what's stopping you?"

"haven't had the energy. Too tired, too down on myself. I'll get around to it eventually, I hope."

"eventually? Now, I don't expect you to think much of the Great and Powerful Trixie but I didn't get here eventually. I got here because I never gave up. I started off as lowly street peformer with a donation hat. Ugh, you can't just give up when things get hard and you're homesick. I saved up and bought this show trailer off of my own hard work and here you are complaining about not being in Ponyville, what's so great about that town anyways?"

I couldn't believe that Trixie was giving me advice. A single spark, a spark of passion and stubborness, was reignited by this. Over the past couple of months I had become complacent and depressed. I could feel my energy start to return and my thoughts began to clear up and straighten out.

"what the hell, I never thought I'd say this, but Trixie you're right!"

"of course I'm right, the Great and Powerful Trixie is always right."

"yes but the Grand and Spectacular Twilight would beat your ass anyday. Another thing I thought I would never say to you, thank you so much."

"your welco- thanks for what?"

"for making me realize that I'm an idiot. Feel good about yourself, you've helped a man find his way."

"ah, yes. Your welcome, maybe you'll remember this next time you speak poorly of me."

"you still brag like shit, fix that and I will scrub your entire trailer with a toothbrush. That's a fucking promise. Now go enjoy yourself, you're in Manehattan."

I walked away feeling like a new person that I had been all along. It felt good to be out of that blue haze and I walked with a purpose back to the general store. I walked in knowing exactly what I wanted and Allonso could see it on my face. He simply nodded and smiled, "I see that you've cheered up. In that case I have one last chore I want from you, I want you to send the payment for the next shipment off apple fritters in advance tomorrow. Are you feeling up to the job."

"you can count on me. It's been a pleasure to work for you Allonso."

"be careful out there, you've got a lot of promise just keep your head up high and you'll be just fine. I'm giving you the day off."

"why?"

"it's your last day in Manehattan, enjoy it so you don't feel homesick over me." He chuckled.

I walked out of the store and wandered through the streets. I realized how downtrotten I had gotten in such short notice. Then I realized that I had once more violated my promise I made to myself to not ever become depressed again. "alright," I thought aloud, "man the fuck up Tommy, you're better than that. Your cutie mark is a goddamn shield, now you better show that you deserve it." I was halfway through humming TNT by AC/DC when I heard somepony in an alleyway calling out to me.

"hey, hey Tommy, is that you?"

I looked over to see Jackson, he had a few bruises and his sunglasses were shattered. I walked over to him and looked down at him, he was leaning against a dumpster.

"woah, fuck man, what happened to you?"

"eh, heh, funny story. Turns out that I ain't exactly cut out for honest work. I bounced around a few jobs before I started poker again. Was getting pretty good at it and walked away with a nice jackpot. I was walking down here last night when these two jackasses mugged me. They're lucky I ain't used to fighting as a horse or they would've been sorry I tell you what."

"sure... damn, I hate to see you like this. Come on, I'm heading to Ponyville tomorrow. You could come along with me."

"nah, I'm *cough* I'm fine. I belong in the city, just give me a day or two and I'll be back on my feet."

"no, you... you're crazy, come along to Ponyville with me it's nice and quiet there."

"I'm- I'm good, I just need... I just... fuck it, you're right. City folk were always assholes anyways."

He began to stand up, his legs trembled as he stood up.

"come on Jackson, I'll take you somewhere safe."

he followed me back to the general store. I noticed that he had a slight limp, many times I had to stop for a second for him to catch up. We made it to the store and I introduced him to Allonso. Allonso was friendly towards Jackson and after he had left the room, Allonso looked over to me and said in a very confused tone, "how do you keep saving all these ponies off the streets."

I laughed at the comment, I understood what he meant to say. It seemed that I couldn't dodge trouble ever since I left Ponyville. That night, I gave the couch I slept on to Jackson and slept off in a particularly warm corner. I was excited for tomorrow and as I fell to sleep my mind was teeming with just what to say. I wanted to say something poetic or inspiring when I got there, I decided to wing it and hopefully the right words will form when the time came.

Author's notes

Hooray for getting this chapter up. It kept changing from theme to theme but I'm glad that it came out how it did. I'm also working on a new story, Foreign Skies. I'll still update this somewhat often, I mostly started it so that I might have something to work on when I want to write but I don't feel like working on this story. Thanks for reading, also I do believe that this shipping may become inevitable. The worst part is that it was by accident. Infact, this whole Manehattan thing was by accident, and so was Jackson. So it seems that I accidently my whole story. Odd...


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